


Beautiful Mess

by Thoughtyouknewr



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: "beta"! Louis, "beta"!Niall, A/B/O, Age reversal (in the Tomlinson Family because Louis is the youngest), Alpha!liam, Alpha!zayn, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Bitting, Bottom Louis, Dominance, Fluff, Hospitalization, M/M, Marking, Modest! is even shadier than you thought, Multi, Niall is dominant one for once, Nouis is the most pure, Omega!Niall, Polyamory, Rating May Change, Secrets, Self Confidence Issues, Self-Harm, Self-Hatred, So much Nouis, Spanking, Zayne stays with the band, alpha!Harry, basically just Louis and Niall getting a completely unnecessary amount of hugs, do not fight me on this, louis centric, louis is tiny, omega!Louis, otra
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-20
Updated: 2018-04-19
Packaged: 2018-09-01 01:51:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 26,964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8602534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thoughtyouknewr/pseuds/Thoughtyouknewr
Summary: Following Harry Styles, Liam Payne, and Zayn Malik's recent confirmation that they are indeed an all alpha pack, the entire world is holding their breath waiting for the inevitable news of their engagement to an omega. After all, no all alpha pack can last for long. Little do they know, the three One Direction alphas have had a perfectly functioning pack without an omega for years already and have no plans to bond anyone anytime soon. Why fix what isn't broken?
This changes sooner than they would've expected when a leaked picture rises some very startling questions about the two beta member of their band. Just what have Niall and Louis been hiding, and why?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Ugh, I forgot that I actually needed a title. This has been siting on my computer as "secret omega au" for awhile now. The summary is also shit. I hate summaries. 
> 
> Hey! This is my first time posting on AO3, so I'm not sure how formatting is going to go, but I'm trying. Also, I have no beta. All mistakes are my own. 
> 
> A few import things!!!!!!  
> 1\. Louis and his youngest siblings have switched places in age in this fic. Therefor Louis is the youngest and the "younger twins" are actually the oldest. 
> 
> 2\. I'm seriously toying with the idea of Louis having no tattoos. In my personal head cannon, he started getting them to match Harry's, which is great for Larry, but this is OT5. Tattooing for me kind of represents an everlasting and exclusive commitment. It unbalances the dynamics in a five way relationship because it isolates Harry and Louis from the rest. Also, Harry is with Zayn and Liam at the beginning, so why would he get tattoos that match Louis?
> 
> 3\. I need you guys to know that this isn't in any way intended to reflect how the boys really act. To be honest, I was drawn into this fandom by the way they interact with each other, but I view it a lot like characters in a movie. I'm not saying that the boys are fake in any way (I was actually drawn by how genuine they seem) but I also know that I've never met them personally and don't know them. Social media and behavior in front of a camera can't capture all the details of a person and can in fact twist them. I'm in no way comfortable saying that I "know" these people or that I'm representing them. Please don't think of it that way. This is pure self indulgence for me and shouldn't be taken to have anything to do with real life. This is set in a fantasy world and is most definitely fantasy written by a person who really just wants more hugs. That's it. 
> 
> 4\. Other people have written similar fics with a character hiding omega status before. This idea has been around for awhile and I don't even know who to credit for the original idea, but this obviously means that there are probably some similarities to some other works. There shouldn't be anything too close to anyone else's work, please tell me if something is really similar to another fic. 
> 
> 5\. This is a WIP and I'm not sure when it will be finished. I'm also not promising regular updates, but I will do my best. I'm at a pretty busy period in my life right now and don't always have the time or motivation to write. This is a pretty short chapter and I'm kind of testing the waters. 
> 
> I think I've babbled quite enough for now. Enjoy!

Louis was exhausted. This was not, in general, a rare occurrence, but he’d been doing better recently. The addition of Niall to the charade Modest! had been running with him had eventually proven extremely beneficial for Louis’s state of mind, after the original trauma it had induced, of course. That had been several years ago and both of them had settled into a routine that was usually mutually beneficial. Sometimes, however, the stress overwhelmed Louis despite the blond's best efforts. 

He collapsed as soon as he entered the room he and the Irish boy were sharing. Hotels were kind of rare, and it was even rarer for the two “beta” boys to be allowed to share a room. Usually they would be put in with one of the alphas to minimize the amount the three doms fought. Arguments were inevitable when three alphas lived in such close quarters, even in bonded packs like Harry, Zayn, and Liam. Without the calming influence of an omega (or an omega conveniently disguised as a beta) all alpha packs could get extremely violent. Usually Louis or Niall could quickly and easily placate the alphas, before anyone was hurt. Unfortunately, this meant the two smaller boys rarely got any time to themselves. Just stolen snatches here and there, normally. 

Someone must have noticed the toll it was taking on the “betas” to constantly reason with the alphas (going against every instinct as they stood up to the one gender they were literally made to obey) because he and Niall had been placed together for once. Or possibly the alphas just wanted to advantage of the rare opportunity to fuck in a real bed. That was an equally viable option. 

Either way, Louis was unspeakably grateful for the break as he slid down the wall just inside the doorway. 

He clenched his fists and pressed them against his temples as he tried to convince his head to stop pounding. He’d been getting more and more headaches recently; no surprise there. People weren’t meant to deny their dynamic like he’d been doing for almost four years now.  
Niall walked passed him into the room, dropping one hand lightly on Louis’s head as he walked by. The gentle contact soothed him a little. All the boys were very tactile, but the kind of contact expected of betas was very different from that required by omegas. The alphas were really too rough with Niall and Louis. 

That was hardly their fault, however. Louis had no doubt that if the three bigger boys knew the truth, he and Niall would be the most spoiled omegas in England. Because that’s what they were. omegas. Definitely not betas as they’d been carefully maintaining these last few years. 

Louis listened to the quietly soothing sounds of Niall moving around in the room as he tried to calm himself a little. 

Niall was a late presentation. He’d truly thought he was beta until two years ago when he’d very unexpectedly found himself in heat. While omegas did usually present later than alphas, it still tended to happen sometime between fourteen and seventeen. If a person reached eighteen without popping a knot or going into heat, it was assumed they were beta. 

Louis had been a doubly rare case. At twenty, he’d woken up one day slick. Betas didn’t produce slick. But Louis was supposedly too old to present, and was reasonably sure he wasn’t in heat. 

He’d found the nearest discrete doctor, not telling anyone why he needed one as it was a little embarrassing to think that his beta body was acting like an omega. The doctor had quickly confirmed that Louis was indeed and omega, despite his late presentation and lack of heat, and Louis called in their Modest! rep as he was contractually obligated to and Liam since he now required an alpha guardian. 

That had been the first and last time Louis had ever been recognized publicly as an omega. A few quick lies to the doctor, a couple shady under-the-table deals to obtain suppressants, one firm Command from the Modest! reps who'd arrived just minutes before Liam not to tell anyone of his status, and Louis was once more a beta. Like magic. Except not. 

He’d really struggled those first few years. He’d been so alone and overwhelmed. Niall’s addition to the ruse two years later had really helped Louis balance himself out again. It had given him someone else to focus on, and satisfied his omega need to nurturer someone.  
It had also helped him cope with his instincts. Omega instincts were very powerful things. The desire to submit and obey along with the overwhelming need to have someone take care of him sometimes left Louis floundering and struggling to stay afloat. Niall, whose omega gene didn’t express quiet as drastically as Louis’s did, was a great help in sorting through the appropriate behaviors. If he got too stressed out, the younger boy was always there to help. 

Like now. Niall returned to Louis and gently pulled him up.

“Com’mon, lovey,” he encouraged. “Just a little further.”

Louis followed him into the main room, and felt himself melt. Niall had made a nest. A real as corn, bonafide omega nest, complete with some of the alphas’ clothing and uncountable pillows and blankets. Even Niall’s shamrock Build-A-Bear (which he would forever deny owning as long as he wasn’t allowed to reveal he was an omega) and Louis’s own comfort blanket which he’d had since he could remember had made it into the cocoon.

A nest was the closest thing an omega could get to the stability of an alpha’s presence without an actual alpha. Louis had gotten very good at making nest in the last four years. Unfortunately, when he was as upset and exhausted as he was today, it was impossible for him to brave the task of putting together a nest. His depression about needing one, not having an alpha, could overwhelm him and leave him unable to do anything, even those things that would make him feel better. 

With Niall, it was easier to balance out the burden of their secret. If one was too upset to function, the other could step in. Louis was unspeakably grateful for this as Niall helped him shed his clothing before he fell into the nest and curled into himself. He burrowed deeper, dousing himself in the alphas’ scent, along with the familiar comfort of Niall’s sweeter aroma which the bear held in spite of it usually being drowned out in suppressing spray.  
The younger omega followed Louis in, not speaking. Words were not necessary right now. Actions meant everything. Maybe one day, if they were ever allowed to reveal their true gender, their nest would be filled with a much larger body and the soft, soothing praise only alphas could dish out. For now, they would do the best they could, curling into each to make up for the absence of the solid alpha warmth and clutching desperately to simulate the easy strength of an alpha’s embrace. It was a cold comfort, but one they were more than accustomed to making do with. 

As they settled in to sleep, completely knackered from a long day of interviews, acting (a constant when they were pretending to be betas), and a concert, neither boy noticed a crucial detail of their hotel room. 

The curtains were open.


	2. Chapter 2

Louis startled awake and sat bolt upright in bed the next morning when the door to their hotel room slammed open and smashed against the wall. Not yet awake enough to put on an act, his omega instincts had him scrambling backwards, closer to Niall, and pulling his comfort blanket over his mostly naked body. 

In his confusion, he got half way across the bed and latched onto the younger omega’s wrist for comfort before he recognized the scent of the people who’d barged so rudely into their room. The alphas were here. And they were mad. Louis didn’t think he’d ever felt Liam, Zayn, or Harry this angry. The fact that he could feel it at all while on the suppressants was a very bad thing. 

Still, he relaxed a little. His alphas would never hurt him. 

Then he snapped back like a tightly coiled spring. He and Niall were sitting in the middle of a nest made of the alpha’s clothing. Nests were extremely personal things. An omega would never make a nest with a strange alpha’s clothing, no matter how much they might desire that alpha. It was all too obvious that either he or Niall had built the nest. No one else was close enough to the alphas to use their clothes. And only omegas nested. 

Any hope that the alphas wouldn’t notice was almost immediately crushed. All three of them were scowling. Liam’s arms were crossed tightly across his chest. Zayn’s hands were firmly planted on his hips. Harry was crushing a paper in his fist. 

“I see it’s true,” he growled, throwing the paper into the bed. 

Neither omega moved towards it. The alphas’ furry overwhelmed any curiosity they might have felt.

“Look at it,” Liam ordered firmly. 

Annoyance started to creep into Niall’s expression in spite of his fear. As much as he and Louis might wish it, the other three boys were not their alphas. They didn’t actually have the right to barge into their room and order them about. 

Louis squeezed his wrist in warning. It would be a very bad thing to anger the alphas any more at this point. Then he dropped Niall and crawled forward to see what had made them so furious to begin with. 

He gingerly turned the paper over, then reeled back with a gasp. His eyes darted around the room with its still intact windows and doors, and landed on the pulled back curtains. Louis relaxed minutely as he realized no one had broken into their room. But only minutely, because that was a secondary concern at that moment. 

They’d left the curtain open. And now their nest had made the front page of the newspaper. 

Niall snatched the paper from him, his own eyes widening as he realized what it meant. His grip on his teddy tightened and Louis knew their gig was up. If the alphas hadn’t already caught on by now, Niall’s reaction would be enough to cue them in. No beta would cling to a comfort item when confronted with an angry alpha. They would bristle, buck against the alpha’s attempt at control. 

And in that moment he knew what he had to do. Niall was out of the closet. That was that. But Louis had been Commanded to do everything he could to keep his own gender concealed. Their nest definitely belonged to an omega, but only one omega was needed to build a nest. Louis had clung to Niall, but it could easily be made out that he was trying to protect the younger boy. Niall had the stuffed animal, Niall was the omega. Louis was just his beta friend trying to help him out. 

“So,” he scoffed, pulling the paper back from Niall and throwing it towards the alphas with a challenging look on his face. His own hands balled into fists as well, nails digging into his palm in punishment.

‘Bad’ his inner omega hissed at him. ‘Upsetting alphas. Back talking. Not letting alphas take care of you. Bad.’

He resolutely ignored it as well as Niall’s confused gaze fixed on his back. The younger omega fisted his hand in the back of Louis’s t-shirt, the only article of clothing besides his boxers that he hadn’t shed the night before. 

Zayn’s rumbling snarl stopped everything. Louis fought his instincts tooth and nail to stop from immediately bearing his neck to the angry alpha. Niall, who had forgotten to take his suppressants yesterday and was consequently feeling the effects a little more than Louis, couldn’t resist the urge and whined as he tipped his chin back. 

Louis jolted in fear as Liam’s huge hands closed around his forearms and pulled him out of their nest. The alpha tore him away from Niall and shook him hard. It wasn’t an uncommon punishment for a mouthy beta. All of the alphas had shaken both him and Niall before, but never this hard, and Louis desperately tried to keep both his feet and his attitude.

Niall yelped and crawled after him, but was stopped by Harry’s gentle hand on his chest. The alpha sat down behind Niall and looped an arm around his waist to hold him still. Zayn wavered between Liam’s punishment and Harry’s comfort of their distressed omega. 

“This isn’t a joke, Louis,” Liam barked. “Beta or not, you very well know the needs of an omega.”

And boy did Louis ever know. The irony of the alpha scolding him for not understanding his own gender almost made him burst out in hysterical laughter. The saddest thing about it was that Liam was not completely wrong. Louis was an omega, sure, but he’d never been allowed to act like one, and was truly ignorant of most of the workings of his own body. Suppressants took care of anything he might have to worry about. All else had fallen to the wayside under the pure stress of just maintaining his cover. Even Niall had known more about being an omega when he presented than Louis did now. 

“Liam,” Niall gasped, surging forward in Harry’s grip.

“Settle,” Zayne told him, resting his hand on the back of Niall’s neck and holding the omega in place. “This is between Liam and Louis.”

“No it damn well is not,” Niall snapped, denying the alpha in a way he would never have been capable of if it wasn’t his omega that Liam was upsetting. He’d caught on by this point that Louis had unfortunately thought of letting Niall’s reveal hide his own gender before the alphas realized the truth. The command Modest! gave them would take care of the rest once the idea flitted across Louis’s mind. Niall couldn’t do anything about that, but he’d be damned if he let Louis get in trouble over Niall’s gender. 

“Niall,” Louis started, his voice soft and cautioning. 

“No,” Niall repeated forcefully. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“He knew,” Liam argued, shaking Louis a little again. “And he didn’t tell any of us alphas. He’s just a beta, and he can’t take care of you right, Niall. You know that.”

Niall snarled, tearing himself out of Harry’s grip with a strength and anger that completely bellied his gender. He darted between Liam and Louis and pushed the big alpha back. 

“You don’t know anything about the situation,” he growled in the alpha’s face, the urge to protect the more vulnerable omega overcoming his instinct to submit. Niall had always been a far more dominate omega than most. “Don’t talk about what you don’t understand.”

Everyone in the room reared back in shock. Never had they even heard of an omega talking to an alpha like that. Niall slid an arm around Louis’s waist, and the older omega fought the urge to curl into him. Niall may not be an alpha, but he was safer than any of the angry men that surrounded them. He would protect Louis, and Louis’s inner omega knew that. 

Still, he couldn’t let Niall continue this. It would get the alphas suspicious. 

“Niall,” he repeated, soft and remonstrating. Not at all beta, but Niall didn’t need beta right now. Niall was defending his omega, and only that omega would calm him. Louis would have to risk tipping off the alphas. 

Niall relaxed slightly, drawing back away from Liam and gripping Louis tighter, but he didn’t apologize to the alphas. 

Louis looked straight back at Liam, ignoring Harry and Zayn’s dropped jaws behind him. 

“I’m sorry,” he said. “You’re right. I can’t care for Niall the way he needs. I should have told someone.”

“No,” Niall countered loudly. “I asked him not to. I relied on the fact that he’s a beta and wanted to protect me. I used his biology against him. He’s not an alpha. He isn’t built for disciplining or denying an omega. That’s an alpha’s job.”

Which was entirely true. There was a good reason beta/omega pairs didn’t last long. A beta was just not dominant enough to curb omegas the way most of them needed to be. 

Louis’s eyes flicked down, ashamed that he wasn’t now, and never would be enough for Niall. The two of them were bound together for life and would eventually find an alpha together, but Louis sometimes wished he was enough to keep the blond happy on his own. 

The alphas all softened a little at the “beta’s” cowed demeanor. 

Harry and Zayn both got off the bed and wrapped themselves around Niall, including Louis because the blond didn’t seem keen on releasing him any time soon. 

“I suppose it’s not entirely his fault, then,” Liam conceded finally. He had every right to be angry. His parents had raised him right, and he knew how precious omegas were. He knew Louis's mother had done the same, so it confused and upset him that Louis would so blatantly disregard it.

“Not entirely?” Niall snapped. His little brunet wasn’t to blame at all. Louis had done everything he could to help Niall, even at the expense of himself. If anything, the omega deserved a fucking award, not blame.

Liam ignored him and turned to Louis. “That still doesn’t completely excuse you.”

Louis willed a mulish expression onto his face, knowing that his stature alone could be enough to betray him when he was next to an alpha, and he couldn’t afford to react in any way like an omega. He was tiny next to Zayn and Harry, or any other alpha, really. He’d had to play his cards very carefully to maintain that he was a beta in the first place, and the alphas were on high alert right now. They’d just found out one of their betas was actually and omega, and the other “beta” knew. They would be looking for odd in both smaller boys. 

So Louis bristled like a beta the best he could, digging his nails into his palms in advanced punishment before he even began speaking.

“We got by well enough,” he said stubbornly. “I know alphas feel the need to control absolutely everything, but Niall asked me not to tell, and he’s been doing fine.”

Harry and Zayn drew away from him at his stinging words. Niall’s grip on him tightened, though, both in comfort and warning. Niall knew better than anyone how hard it was for Louis to deny the alphas. He was completely aware of the scars already dug deep into Louis’s palms from past self-punishment. 

As subtly as possible, he slipped one hand towards Louis’s hand, and tried to gently coax it to unclench. It was a lost cause however; Louis was quite hard on himself, and punishment always followed any altercations with the alphas. 

Liam took a deep breath and remained calm. This was why he was pack leader. Zayn was almost shaking with rage at Louis’s dismissal of the alphas, and Harry looked a curious mixture of hurt and irate. Liam was able to keep himself in check well enough to deal with the “beta.”

“Be that as it may, an alpha is best for him,” he told Louis sternly. “You and he both know it. He’s already admitted that betas aren’t made to fit every need an omega has. Alphas are there to care for, but also to corral omegas. Betas are too easily swayed and can be coerced into doing what omegas want. Alphas are for discipline and punishment as much as cuddling and indulgence.”

He stopped and glanced at Harry and Zayn, his bonded co-alphas.

“Which is why,” he continued, “I am establishing a punishment right now.” 

Louis went stock still. Beta punishments were specifically tailored to that gender, just as alpha and omega discipline were suited more towards the dynamics of their gender. 

If a quick or physical castigation was necessary, betas were commonly shaken. An alpha wouldn’t allow themselves to be treated this way and it was frowned on to shake an omega. Almost like shaking a young child. 

In situations where a more lasting or serious punishment was needed, betas were often isolated. While the independent betas could handle this with little psychological damage, the same was not true of omegas. Omegas needed the support of others. Isolation was the ultimate and most horrifying punishment an omega could receive, but it was normal and manageable for betas. 

As an omega, Louis needed the right kind of punishment, or it came off more as just another part of his act to maintain rather than something to actually sooth his guilty mind. He had yet to get that, and he doubted the next words out of Liam’s mouth would change this fact. 

“You’re not allowed alone with Niall,” Liam told him, and Louis felt all air leave his lungs. He didn’t think he could live without the blond’s support anymore. He’d grown used to it in the two years they’d been running this stunt. He needed Niall. “And I want you traveling on the crew bus until I can trust you again.”

Louis’s mind reeled, but he managed to keep it entirely invisible to the alphas. Niall had no doubt felt his body go lax with shock, and even if he hadn’t, he and Louis were as close to mated as it was possible for two omegas to be. Louis didn’t go anywhere without the other omega’s mark on him, even if Niall did have to keep redoing it because he’d yet to find a way to make it stick. That kind of closeness had established a weak, but still present, mental bond between them. Niall knew how panicked Louis was.

“No!” Niall yelled, trying to grip Louis tighter even while Harry and Zayn were gently prying him off, and Louis was nodding his understanding. Louis couldn’t challenge the punishment as a beta, and Harry and Zayn wouldn’t. Liam was pack leader, and they probably agreed with him in this instance. 

Niall lashed out at the alphas, and Louis gasped when he hit Harry in the face and kicked Zayn’s shin hard enough for them to lose their hold. Unfortunately, Liam was able to get his massive arms around the omega before he could reach Louis again.

“Shhh,” he soothed, whispering in Niall’s ear to try and calm the frantic blond. 

Louis could see the fear in Niall’s eyes. The younger omega knew how badly Louis would take being left alone. It had been hard enough the few times they’d been isolated together. Louis’s psyche was fragile, and Niall was afraid of what he would do to himself. 

Harry slower lowered his hand from the bruise Niall had left (Louis had no doubt Niall had bruised himself worse). Zayn was rolling around on the floor cursing. Niall lashed out at Liam, completely panicked. 

“Niall,” Louis interrupted. “Calm. I’ll be fine.”

Even his own words had little effect on Niall, who knew he was talking out of his ass. 

“You are a filthy liar,” the blond snarled at him. “I know what-“

“Take him out,” Louis cut Niall off. He knew the younger boy was about to reveal the danger of leaving him alone, which would bring up all sorts of questions that they couldn’t answer. “Go!” he yelled when Liam did nothing for a few seconds. 

Liam snapped out of his shock, and started hauling the struggling blond away. Zayn followed immediately, speaking soothingly to Niall the whole while, his leg completely forgotten. Harry stopped only to grab Niall’s teddy, then went after the rest. 

Not one of them so much as glanced at Louis, too focused on the nearly hysterical omega in their care. 

Louis let out a shaky breath as Harry vanished through the door. He could do this. He could totally do this. He just had to wait until he’d earned back the pack’s trust. It couldn’t be more than a few months. Hell, they went on break in a few months. He could make it until then.

He unclenched his hands carefully, realizing for the first time just how hard he’d been digging his nails into his own palm. Blood immediately started welling in the eight perfect crescent marks he’d left in his own skin. He gulped at the sight and fully allowed his shock to register for the first time as he fell onto the white bed and watched helplessly as his blood ran freely to stain it. 

He couldn’t do this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, guys, seriously! I should be used to how quickly this fandom works by now, but I'm seriously blown away. I posted this at like 3 in the morning and by the time I went to bed only a few hours later, there was already a comment! Thanks for all the support guys. 
> 
> I plan on continuing this for a little while. I have a pretty defined plot, but I'm not sure how fast I'll be able to get updates out. Hopefully I'll get another chapter over Thanksgiving break, but we'll see. You can expect updates to usually be a bit longer. That was a very short chapter, which is part of the reason I was so shocked at the large response. You guys are truly awesome. 
> 
> On a side note, does anyone know how to make italics? I don't think mine are showing up. 
> 
> Hope you liked this chapter!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so a little nervous about this one. I've never written anything like this before. Opinions would be great :)

“Niall, Niall, please calm down,” Harry begged desperately, shoving the green teddy bear saturated in omega scent into the blond’s arms.

Said blond was sitting almost catatonic in Liam’s lap, staring blankly at nothing. He’d worn himself out very quickly, as even in their best health, omegas weren’t designed for fighting. Niall was definitely not in top shape. No omega who’d been making due with a beta instead of an alpha for any length of time could be.

  
Niall stared at him uncomprehendingly for a second, and then seemed to come back to himself.

 

“You’re going to regret this,” he warned the gathered alphas. “You’re going to regret this so much.”

  
“Niall,” Liam said disapprovingly. “As much as you might not want to admit it right now, you consciously entered into this pack of your own free will. That means that as pack alpha, I have the right to act as disciplinarian sometimes. It’s my duty to keep all of you as healthy as possible, and I can’t do that if I don’t have the right information. It was extremely wrong of you and Louis to keep this from me.”

  
Niall laughed coldly. “You don’t know anything about this,” he repeated to the big alpha. “But I’m not denying that we deserve punishment.” His gaze slipped submissively to the ground and a dejected look overcame his features. “God knows it would actually make me feel better at this point. But you’re going to regret isolating Lou. It’s a very bad decision.”

  
“Why?” Liam questioned patiently. Most alphas wouldn’t take that kind of sass from their omega, but Liam was smart enough to know that Niall wouldn’t say something like that if he didn’t truly believe it. At the same time, he couldn’t resend the punishment without a convincing reason. He was willing to be convinced, but Niall would really have to work for it. 

  
Niall stayed completely silent, dropping his head against his chest and appearing to struggle with himself. After a few seconds, Liam sighed. Obviously the omega wasn’t going to be forthcoming.

  
“I can’t do anything without more information, Niall,” he told the blond. “As I said, I have to discipline this pack to the best of my ability. Right now that means separating you and Louis. Since none of us can leave you at this time, that means sending Louis away for a little while. You’ll still get to see him, but I won’t allow you two to conspire and keep secrets from me anymore.”

  
Niall let out a strangled noise between a whine and a hysterical laugh. Harry took that to mean they hadn’t been told everything they needed to know about the situation, but also that they weren’t getting anything more from the blond. He met Zayn’s eyes, and then Liam’s, and saw the same knowledge reflected in them.

  
“How long have you been lying to us, Niall?” Liam interrogated. “When did you present?”

  
“Late,” the blond said shortly. “Only two years ago.”

  
That was better than what they had been expecting, but so much worse than it could’ve been. Why hadn’t Niall just told them?

Liam repeated the question on all of their minds out loud.

An odd look came over Niall’s face. There was a strange tension in his bearing and his expression changed rapidly from stubborn to afraid to guilty and finally a dash of pain entered the mix.

  
“I-“ he stuttered. “I-“

  
Harry glanced at Liam and Zayn in alarm. He’d never seen an omega act this way.

  
“Stop,” Liam said as soon as he saw the pain. “We’re not going to hurt you, Niall, we never would. Is that why you never told us? Are you afraid of us, Niall?”

  
He recoiled away from the omega on his lap like he’d been physically struck at the mere idea.

  
“No!” Niall exclaimed vehemently enough to convince the alphas he wasn’t just saying it to make them feel better. “It’s nothing like that. It’s just…It’s inconvenient, ok.”

  
“I’m sorry?” Harry asked, blinking. Inconvenient? What did that even mean?

  
“Everything was already all planned out,” Niall told them. “We were scheduled to be on tour in a few days, and it was too late to rework everything around heats. And who would want to deal with the rest of the things an omega needs? We were all so busy as it was, I didn’t feel right adding more.”

  
That…sounded like the biggest load of bullshit ever. Of all of them, Niall was always most in tune with their omega fans and the issues they faced. From the beginning, Harry would almost have called him an omega rights activist, ever careful with them, always gentle, angry at anyone who so much as looked at them wrong. For him to deny any omega, even himself, the basic rights of their existence was preposterous.

  
Niall himself looked completely frustrated with what had just come out of his mouth, like he didn’t have complete control of it and didn’t like what it had decided to do this time. It was one of the oddest sights Harry had ever seen.

  
He glanced at Zayn and Liam to find that the other two alphas were buying into this about as much as he was.

  
"Niall," Zayn rebuked with a disapproving note in his tone. "That's possibly the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard."

  
"Well that's all I have to give you," Niall bit out, frustrated. "Take it or leave it."

  
"Niall James," Liam rebuked sharply. "This is a very serious issue! You can't just blow it off!"

  
"Well, looks like that's what I'm doing, doesn't it," Niall spat, and Liam lost what little bit of hesitance he'd been holding on to. He was a patient and lenient alpha, but he could only take so much disrespect. 

  
He flipped the blond omega over on his lap, and started spanking Niall.

  
"Your attitude is unacceptable, Niall. We are trying to have a very necessary and open minded discussion about this, and you will participate to the best of your abilities. This is not your best," he scolded.

  
Niall went almost completely lax fairly instantaneously. All three alphas were slightly thrown as they'd been expecting fighting and spitting.

  
"I'm sorry," Niall murmured quietly. He grabbed onto Liam's ankle and crossed his legs in an obvious attempt not to kick them.

  
His quick submission to the punishment contradicted everything he'd done so far and left the alphas very confused. Liam gave him one more swat, and then rubbed over his bum soothingly.

  
"Are you ready to talk rationally now?" he questioned, gentle but with a stern note in his tone.

  
"Yes, alpha," Niall breathed submissively.

  
Liam glanced up sharply at Zayn and Harry. Niall was dangerously close to subspace already. The mere ten or so smacks Liam had given him shouldn't have been enough to put him so close to the edge. Then again, omegas who denied their dynamic were known for acting unpredictably once discovered and treated as they should be.

  
The two other alphas shrugged helplessly when Liam looked at them, but Harry also sent a small pulse of reassurance down their very weak bond. Without an omega, they couldn't completely bond, but their close contact had created a fragile link between them that would have to suffice until they found the right omega. Though it looked like they may have just done so, none of them would even dream of bringing that up so early. They needed Niall to be healthy before any of them even thought of bonding.

  
"Good boy," Liam approved, patting Niall's bum. "I think you can just stay right where you're at right now. You seem to be much more willing to tell the truth in this position. I'll even make you a deal. If you answer our questions respectfully and to the best of your ability, we'll save the rest of your spanking for lying until after you've seen a doctor so you don't have to worry about showing off your red little bum. If you get mouthy or lie to us again, you'll lose a piece of clothing and get five swats. And then you can still have another spanking after you've seen a doctor. Do you understand?"

  
"Yes, alpha," Niall whimpered.

  
"Good," Liam repeated.

  
He glanced up at the other two alphas for a moment, asking silently for their approval of the situation. Liam was head alpha, Primus, but they had an omega to take care of now. They all needed to be on the same page and feel involved in the decision making if they wanted their pack to work at all. Liam was a born Primus and took to the position like a duck in water, so he knew this very well.

Harry and Zayn both nodded the agreement to the deal, and Harry took it upon himself to ask the first question.

"Why don't you smell like an omega?"

  
This had been bothering all of them since they saw the picture in the paper that morning. Neither Niall nor Louis ever smelled like an omega, or even reacted to an alpha's pheromones like omegas did. It was why none they had never questioned the firm "beta" both smaller boys claimed to be.

  
"Blockers," Niall replied instantly. "A spray. I use it several times a day. Whenever I start smelling myself."

  
All the alphas frowned. Scent blocking sprays weren't exactly bad for you, they just weren't healthy either. Recent studies had found that frequent use of them could create breathing problems for omegas, whose fragile lungs couldn't take repeated exposure to the harsh chemicals needed to smother their scents.

 

"Not anymore," Liam muttered. "When I let you up, you will immediately go retrieve them and bring them to me," he ordered.

  
"Yes, alpha," Niall sighed.

  
"Where are you keeping them?" Zayn asked, suddenly curious. He very well knew the difficulty of keeping things concealed from their illustrious Primus. Liam strongly disapproved of smoking, even though it was pretty much harmless to healthy alphas, and Zayn had quite the time trying to keep his stash away from the taller man. Where on earth could their usually artless omega be hiding things away?

  
"In my bag," Niall revealed.

  
Which really was about the safest place you could get. They had an agreement among themselves that their bags were private. Most of their stuff got strewn around all over the place while they were traveling anyway. Anything that was out in the open was fair game, but they all kept personal things in their bags, and they had been declared sacred ground after Louis "borrowed" Harry's favorite sweatpants without asking one too many times. As long as you didn't do anything to provoke a search, such as hiding cigs from the pack leader, your bags were safe.

  
Needless to say, Niall had never drawn suspicion to himself, so no one had ever bothered going through his stuff.

  
Liam's lips thinned.

  
"You don't get a bag anymore," Zayn informed Niall before Liam could speak. It was important for Niall to know that all of them were his alphas, and that wouldn't be fostered if only Liam gave him directions. "If you still have things you'd like to keep private, you can give them to one of us and we'll keep it in our bags. You can have access to your stuff as much as you want and we won't touch it without your permission, but we're not giving you a bag for you to hide things in."

  
Niall sniffled, but nodded. His body was becoming more relaxed with every command. It was obvious that he'd really been missing an alpha's influence in his life, and Harry felt a stab of anger that Louis had mistreated the blond like this. The oldest boy had to know that it was damaging for Niall to live without an alpha. To ignore it for this long was neglect bordering on abuse.

  
"Why have we never had to pause for your heats?" Liam asked. That was a very vaild point that Harry hadn't thought of quite yet. It was impossible that Niall's heats had always synced up to where they had breaks anyway, and they'd never had to stop long enough for an omega to go through a heat.

  
Niall was silent and squirmed in Liam's lap.

  
"Niall," Liam warned, fingers going to the waist band of Niall's sweatpants.

  
Niall whined lowly, and wriggled more, but still didn't answer. It must be bad if he was avoiding answering like this.

  
Liam sighed and pulled down Niall's bottoms. "Last chance," Liam warned. "Answer me now, Niall, or you get five more spanks."

  
Niall sniffled again, and still refused to reply. He tightened his grip around Liam's ankle again, clearly preparing for the coming punishment.

  
Liam grimaced behind the omegas back, not in pain as Niall's strongest grip still wouldn't even come close to bruising him, but in distaste at the prospect of more punishment for the blond. He'd told Niall what would happen, though, and it was important for the boy to know his alphas meant what they said, so he brought his hand down on Niall's boxers five times.

  
Niall yelped a little and visibly struggled not to kick. Harry could see a little pink peeking out from the edge of Niall's boxer briefs and knew the omega had to be feeling it just about now.

  
"Zayn will do the next five," Liam told Niall, rubbing his back to calm him a little. "And they'll be bare. If there's a five after that, Harry will have a turn."

  
Harry knew he was last because of his hands. It had been jokingly mentioned more than once by multiple people that they were sorry for whichever omega earned a spanking at his hands. Harry had big hands, and a lot of strength behind his swing. A spanking from him wouldn't be pleasant by anyone's standards. Liam was ensuring that Niall knew all three alphas were equal in authority, but trying to avoid subjecting Niall to the more severe punishment that Harry would undoubtedly dole out by the sole virtue of his size.

  
"Why haven't we ever had a break for your heat, Niall?" Liam repeated calmly as Niall whimpered again.

  
"I can't have heats," Niall offered, voice rising a little at the end like it was more a question than an answer.

  
Liam exchanged a grim look with Zayn. Niall was lying. It was clear as day to all the alphas, which meant Zayn would be handing out five smacks of his own.

  
Zayn sighed and walked over to stand over Niall and Liam. He rested one hand on Niall's lower back, and the other on his bum.

  
"You are never to lie to us, Niall," he instructed sternly as he tugged Niall's pants off.

  
Niall started crying before Zayn even began spanking him, but that didn't stop Zayn from delivering the promised punishment.

  
"I'm on suppressants," the blond admitted as soon as he'd taken his spanking. His voice was clouded with tears, and this did not help the pull of panic on each alpha's heart.

  
Suppressants were dangerous. Too much of them for too long or of the wrong type could cause serious damage. There was a high risk of an omega becoming infertile or ill which only increased the longer the drugs were taken. Niall had been on them now for two years. That was more than enough time to do permanent injury to the omega, especially if he was using street drugs as was likely since he'd been keeping his orientation a secret.

  
"Niall James Horan," the three alphas boomed in unison.

  
Niall cringed and cried harder. All three alphas fought hard to conquer the instinct to immediately punish the wayward omega.

  
"I'm sorry," Niall wailed. "I'm so sorry."

  
"That doesn't change what you've done!" Liam bit out angrily. "How dare you? We all love you, Niall! How do you think we'll feel if you can't have kids because of this? We're responsible for you! What would we say to your parents if you accidentally overdosed?"

  
This was another very real danger, and it just made it all the more hurtful that Niall had refused to tell them. He'd risked his life, health, and possible future family to keep his secret when he had three alphas who would gladly fall on their knees before him. What had they done that was so horrible that it was better for Niall to jeopardize everything rather than just trust them to take care of him?

  
"I'm sorry!" Niall repeated. "I wasn't...I didn't-" he chocked on his own tears. "It wasn't your fault," he blurted. "It had nothing to do with you. I promise!"

  
He was so sincere that they couldn't help but believe him, but that just left them even more puzzled. If the problem wasn't with them, and it certainly wasn't with Mr. Omega-rights Niall himself, who?

  
Harry supposed that Louis might have a hand in it, but that thought was ludicrous. While Niall was more open about his support of omegas, Louis was by no means prejudice against them. In fact, Harry had caught him surreptitiously helping them along in subtle ways that most people would never even think of, let alone bother carrying through with. Louis could never be the reason behind Niall's evasiveness.

  
"You'll be punished for this," Harry stated bluntly. He wasn't pussyfooting around on this issue. Niall would be punished for putting himself in danger.

  
"Yes, alpha," Niall agreed once more. "I know I deserve it. I'm so sorry."

  
The promise of a punishment, oddly, seemed to calm him more than Zayn and Liam's soft messaging of his back and pink bum. Harry supposed it shouldn't be surprising. Niall had been living without any kind of rules for two years now, and it was undoubtedly overwhelming. Omegas needded structure. They needed rules to follow, and a system of reward and punishment. They needed to know that they were being good. Punishing Niall was drawing a clear picture of just what bad was. Once Niall knew what being bad was, he could avoid it and thereby be assured that he was being good. If there was no punishment for bad, there was an open concept of it. Any action could be viewed as bad by an omega without an alpha to discriminate for them. They were far too hard on themselves. 

  
"I suppose those are in your bag too," Liam disapproved.

  
Niall gave an abashed nod.

  
"I wouldn't count on ever having one of your own again," Zayn warned him. "Oviously you can't be trusted with it."

  
Niall slumped at the insinuation of loss of trust.

  
It was obvious to all three alphas that they weren't going to get the reason for his secrecy out of the omega today. They would have to wait. Besides, Niall's admission of taking supressants had made it much more urgent for them to get him to a doctor. He hadn't had one yet today, obviously, since he hadn't been out of their sight since he work up. They had no idea how long it would take for him to start coming down off of them or what side effects he could experience.

  
"Alright," Liam sighed, righting Niall to sit on his knee instead of over it. The omega squirmed lightly on his stinging bum, but didn't seem embarrassed to be half naked in front of three alphas. Then again, they'd all seen each other in worse states than this before.

"Everything else will definitely have to wait until after the doctor, then. Who knows what the supressants could be doing to you? Paul told me earlier that he had an apointment set up for ten. It's the best he could do with a discrete doctor on such short notice."

  
A glance at the clock showed that it was only 9:15. They had a little while before they had to go.

  
"In the meantime," Harry began, "we can go get your bag."

  
"We?" Niall asked weakly. "You don't trust me not to get rid of anything incriminating before I bring it back?" His bottom lip quavered at the idea that their trust was so completely destroyed.

  
"That's not it," Harry disagreed. "Though it's true that at this point none of us trust you very much. We don't understand why you did this, and until we do, we can't fully trust you again, Niall. This is completely out of character for you, and you've given no real explanation. It's obvious that there's more to the picture. Until we've got the full story, we have to keep you close, for your own safety as much as our peace of mind. We don't know if anyone besides Louis is involved in this. We need to protect you until we know everyone around us is safe."

  
"And besides," Liam added. "I want to go through Louis's things as well."

  
Niall's face twisted angrily. "Just because he knew about me doesn't mean you have any right to be suspicious of him," he snapped.

  
"He should've told-" Zayn began.

  
"I showed up at his door in heat," Niall interrupted. "He wanted to call you right away, but I asked him to help me through the first wave before he did. Then I begged him not to tell anyone. Do you really expect a beta to be able to resist a request an omega in heat makes?"

  
That did change things quite a bit. Even an alpha would have to sturggle very hard to resist any plea made by an omega in heat. It was a biological imperative for stronger genders to care for weaker ones; for betas and alphas to look after omegas. Alphas were the better choice because they not only pampered omegas, they also kept them in line. A beta wasn't built to have the kind of restraint and self-confidence it took to discipline an omega.

  
When an omega in heat asked for something not connected to the heat (i.e. not babies or sex) it was because that thing was plaguing them to the point of affecting their inner omega which generally did not concern itself with the mundane problems of life as long as basic survival needs were met and alphas were pleased. It was a sort of built in fail-safe because it let betas and alphas know an omega was truly serious about the issue. An omega could over-dramatize anything, but if it was brought up while in heat, it was a real problem. Alphas had to be very sure of their stance on a subject before they refused an omega in heat. Betas just didn't have that kind of assurance in themselves. It was unfair to expect Louis to be any different.

  
"Oh," Liam breathed.

  
That meant Niall's secret had more than likely been eating away at Louis for two years as he struggled between what he knew was best for Niall and what the omega had begged of him. Harry was surprised they hadn't seen any kind of distressed behavior in Louis before this. Maybe they should keep a closer eye on the beta from now on as well. Still, Louis was a beta and could handle things himself. Their first priority had to be Niall.

  
"We'll have to discuss that later too, then," Liam continued. "You took advantage of his biology, Niall. Do you even know how that's been affecting him? Is he ok? Does he struggle with what you've asked him to do?"

  
Niall turned his head away, eyes vacant and fixed on the ground. "Louis strong," he affirmed. "He'll be ok."

  
He seemed to be trying to convince himself as much as the alphas. It was not encouraging.

  
"Does this mean you'll let him back on the bus with us?" he questioned, perking up at the idea.

  
Liam hesitated and glanced over at Zayn and Harry, who were equally conflicted. Technically Louis hadn't really done anything wrong if Niall was telling the truth. But separating Niall and Louis still seemed like the best thing to do.

  
"Not for a week, at least," Liam decided. "You seem to have quite the hold on him. You used him, Niall. I'm not sure we can trust you around him, and you have to stay close to us."

  
"I would never hurt Louis," Niall snarled, pulling away from Liam and scrambling to snatch his clothes. "How could you insinuate that I would?"

  
"Settle," Harry commanded, placing a hand on the back of Niall's neck to hold him still. "We can think that you might hurt Louis because you probably already have, Niall. You manipulated him and forced him to keep quiet about something that he knew would harm you. How do you think that made him feel?"

  
Niall shuddered under his hand. "So much you don't know," he barely breathed. Harry only heard it because he was practically on top of the omega. Liam and Zayn didn't hear it, and therefore continued before Harry could ask about this repeated statement.

  
"I need to go through Louis's things because there's every chance that he has some of your stuff that you'll refuse to acknowledge and ask him to keep quiet about," Liam told Niall.

  
"And we're still not entirely sure Louis's completely blameless," Zayn added. "There are other things that he should've told us about that he didn't. Like the suppressants. You couldn't have asked him for that while in heat if you were already taking them. All he had to do was hint that you were taking something you shouldn't, and someone would've gone through your bag. He technically wouldn't have told anyone you were an omega, and you would've been safe."

  
It was a good point, even if Harry didn't think Louis would see it quite like that. Louis was very loyal. Once he'd given his word, he wouldn't do anything that could be conceived as going against it. The beta knew such an action would reveal Niall, and therefore couldn't talk himself into it.

  
Niall threw his hands into the air, pulling away from Harry as he did. "I give up!" he declared. "You're not even trying to understa-!"

  
"Enough," Liam barked. "We need to get one thing straight right now, Niall. You are an omega. A fragile, delicate, submissive little omega. And you lied to us: the people who are supposed to protect you. Everything that comes out of your mouth right now is questionable and subject to verification. Until you prove that we can trust you again, you will learn to act like an omega. To be respectful, and obedient and to feel cared for and safe. Do you understand?"

  
"Yes," Niall muttered sullenly.

  
"Yes what?" Liam demanded.

  
Niall looked up at him, a spark of rebellion still stirring in the back of his blue eyes. "Yes, alpha," he ground out.

  
"Good," Liam said in a clipped tone. "Now you will not argue about Louis's punishment any more. I don't want to hear another word from you on the subject."

  
Niall forced himself to nod, obviously not at all satisfied.

  
"Good," Zayn cut in. "Let's go get your bags."

  
Niall tried to storm off, only for Harry to grab him by the collar.

  
"I don't think so," he told the blond.

  
The way Niall growled and bucked against him told him they had a long journey in front of them. But they were a pack, and they loved each other. They were all in it for the long haul anyway. Might as well make it interesting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Didn't quite make another one over break :/ Like I said, I am really busy right now. Finals start for me soon, and please don't expect any updates over that week. It's the 13-20th, plus I have to spend most of the week before that studying :( I also have a research paper due next Friday, so I probably won't have much time this coming week either. I'm going to try, though! You guys have really been motivating me. 
> 
> I just wanted to say thank you for all the amazing comments. You guys really don't realize how much they mean to me, especially right now. I've had a couple friends who have needed a lot of support from me lately, and I definitely don't mind, but it can be stressful. It may sound  
> dumb, but your comments really mean a lot to me. They're like my own personal support squad right when I really need it. Thank you so much. Your response has been amazing, especially for how little I've even posted so far. 
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this, and I'm going to try really hard to get the next part out to you as quickly as I can.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Earlier than I said before! I have a final tomorrow. I should be sleeping. 
> 
> I was really relieved at all your amazing comments on the last chapter. To be honest, I was afraid the alphas were coming off as too strict or harsh. A lot of you were very frustrated with them, but mostly just at the situation I think. 
> 
> Big shout out to Alondra. Seriously, their comment has inspired me to start a one-shot related to this story. Not sure when it will be posted. Maybe I'll even incorporate it into the main story line. I haven't decided yet, but the inspiration from Alondra. 
> 
> This person also asked about shaking as a punishment, and I thought I'd put that information here since others might ask about it. Omegas are physically weaker than alphas and betas. Their bodies are more fragile and more easily injured. Theoretically, you could shake a beta like you might shake a mouthy older teen (though hopefully you never do). If you're not too rough, you probably won't physically injure them. Shaking an omega, however, is more like shaking a toddler. No matter how "gently" you shake them, it could cause serious damage. Seriously, never shake a baby or toddler. You could cause anything from whip-lash to blindness to paralysis to death. Or you could bruise them and leave them with a headache or make them throw up. Or give them a concussion. These are all consequences of shaking an omega as well. 
> 
> Please ask any questions you have! If you need something clarified then I probably haven't incorporated it well enough into the story, and it helps me grow as a writer to know what I'm doing wrong. Also, anything you would really like to see, I'm interested in hearing. I can't promise I'll add it in, but I'm always interested in your ideas :)

Louis was just hanging up the phone as the door burst open. To be honest, the other boys could've had better timing. He'd barely disconnected from their frantic management, who were freaking out over the fact that Niall had been revealed. Actually, they'd been worked up about the mere fact that the picture of their nest had made the front page, and had only gotten more furious when Louis told them Niall's cover had been blown.

  
There had been yelling. A lot of yelling. Louis had lost track of how many times he'd been called stupid, careless, and just plain _bad_. Considering these were the only people besides Niall that he'd _ever_ been allowed to interact with as an omega, his inner omega was pretty torn up about the insults and he was feeling pretty shitty about everything in general. He'd stratched his hips until they bled (it was a good place to punish himself because no one ever saw he hips), punctured his palms all over again, and had a pounding migraine by the time he finally hung up.

  
Just in time for the door to slam open, admitting an angry looking Niall trailed by three stern alphas. Louis took a breath that he hoped sounded less like a sob than he thought it did, and calmed himself down enough to put his game face on.

  
"What-?" he began, only for Niall to cut him off.

  
The other omega stalked across the room and backed Louis straight into the nearest wall. He grabbed Louis's wrists in both his hands and pinned them over his head, then leaned in and _claimed_ Louis's mouth.

  
Louis gave a small, stunned gasp, and then both of them relaxed into the familiarity of the kiss. Niall's hands slid up, forcing Louis's fingers to uncurl so they could hold hands, but still pushing them into the wall above them. Niall went from agressively sucking on Louis's mouth and biting his lower lip, to carefully licking at his upper lip and practically caressing Louis's tongue when Louis opened up for him.

  
Louis only spared a thought for the alphas when Niall pulled away and started kissing the side of his mouth and moving downwards. He caught sight of the three of them standing there with dropped jaws and expressions of mixed lust and shock.

  
"Ni," he gasped. "Niall, baby, what are you doing?"

  
"Hush," Niall commanded, biting lightly this time instead of kissing. He moved up again and grabbed Louis's earlobe between his teeth before whispering into his ear. "You're in so much pain. And you've been punishing yourself without me here. We had an agreement about that, beautiful. It was naughty of you to violate it."

  
Louis whimpered at the words. Omega Niall might be, but he _did_ _not_ like it when _his_ Louis disobeyed him. Louis and Niall had set up rules for themselves and each other a long time ago. It was nothing near as good as having an alpha, but it gave them some sort of guideline for appropriate behavior. Without it, Louis did things like claw himself until he bled, and Niall bit his own fingers until he severed half a nail. They were too harsh on themselves, so they put each other in charge of punishments.

  
Louis had been told repeatedly that he was never to hurt himself when Niall wasn't around, ever since that time he gotten so agitated that he'd taken a knife to his own thigh. Niall wasn't an alpha and couldn't completely stop Louis from punishing himself (they'd learned that the hard way, and it was what led to the knife in the first place) but he could talk Louis down or offer him another solution if Louis was going too far. Louis did the same for the blond. It was far from what they both desired, but it was the closest they'd been able to get.

  
Niall leaned in to kiss him hard once more and Louis whimpered, "I'm sorry," against the taller lad's lips nearly silently because he was conscious of the alphas watching.

  
Niall hummed into him, them pulled away again, and pressed kisses along Louis's aching temples. "We'll take care of it later," he breathed when he was close to Louis's ear again. "Your head hurts so bad right now. We'll do it later."

  
He knew his migraine was bad if it was making its way across the bond with Niall. Weak as that was, only truly horrible pain came across clear enough for them to pin-point the origin. Without the mediating influence of an alpha, that was a good thing. Alphas dampened bonds a little as far as emotional exchange between two omegas went. Omegas were emotionally driven creatures, and having their strongest feelings ping-ponging back and forth over a mental bond could easily damage them. It created a feedback loop that made the emotion stronger with each reverberation. Happiness could be magnified, but so could lust or anger or pain. An alpha acted like a resistor in an electrical circuit, constricting the amount of emotional charge that could be passed through the loop.

  
Knowing he was causing Niall pain and that it was mostly brought on by tension and stress, Louis allowed himself to relax for a few seconds. He couldn't do anything about the stress, but loosening the tension should help a little.

  
He went lax under Niall's body, pressed against the wall with his hands held captive so he couldn't do himself more damage. Niall circled their hands back down to Louis's hips, and gently brushed over the marks Louis had made.

  
"Until then," Niall began. He let go of Louis's hands to slide his own under Louis's shirt and hike it up just over the brunet's collar bones, then bit down into the mark he left just under his left clavicle (just above his heart) to finish.

  
Louis gasped again, fisting his hands in Niall's t-shirt and throwing his head back. His back arched away from the wall, pushing him into Niall. He could feel the blond smirk around the firm grip his teeth had on Louis's skin.

  
He once again caught sight of the alphas standing inside the now closed door, and the shock still present on their faces brought him crashing back down from the safe place he'd been in. The alphas had never really known he and Niall were sleeping together because they'd never felt they had the right to interfere in two betas' love lives. They'd left Niall and Louis well enough alone, not even really questioning all of the beards Modest! had give Louis. Hell, they probably still thought he was actually going to be having a baby soon.

  
Niall felt Louis tense again under him and bit down harder. "Mine," he mumbled best he could around his full mouth.

  
Louis went involuntarily lax again. Biting could be both a punishment and a relaxant for omegas. Niall used it as both sometimes as well as a claim.

  
But the alphas were still watching, which meant Louis needed to provide some kind of explanation for this. It wasn't typical beta/omega behavior.

  
So he smirked at Harry, Liam, and Zayn and inserted a cocky note in his tone when he said, "Didn't know how possessive Niall is?"

  
The blond pressed a hand on Louis's chest, pushing him back against the wall as he let go. He soothed his thumb over the bite mark, still smirking in a very self-satisfied way. "Mine," he repeated, this time loud enough for the alphas to hear.

  
"We...we didn't realize you two were...a thing?" Liam quavered, tone lilting up in the end to make it a question.

  
"Little more than that," Niall muttered. "If only I could get it to stick," he sighed, thumbing over the mark again.

  
"If you bit hard enough, it would scar," Louis reminded him as he did every time Niall brought it up.

  
"No," Niall denied. "Not without an alpha. It would hurt you too much."

  
Which was true. Technically, the way an alpha claimed an omega was to bite hard enough to break skin and scar while knotting. It wasn't as overwhelming, though, because the omega was so high off of the pleasure of a knot, and an alpha could lick over the wound immediately to lessen the pain and increase healing. When Niall marked him permanently, he insisted it would be as Louis was riding an alpha's knot.

  
Niall dove back in for one more kiss, and Louis's pliantly opened his mouth for Niall to plunder.

  
"So this is...pretty serious," Harry concluded, a note of jealousy in his tone.

  
"Very," Niall grunted shortly as he finally pulled away from Louis.

  
"You don't have to worry," Louis assured the alpha, a slightly melancholy note to his tone. "I know you'll mate him soon. Surprised you don't have at least a temporary claim on him already."

  
"Not without you," Niall whispered into his ear.

  
"Niall is on suppressants," Liam reminded Louis. "We have no idea about the state of his health right now. We would never endanger him, and can't even think about mating until we know he's healthy."

  
"You're starting to come down," Louis told Niall, placing a hand in the middle of his chest. "First symptom of withdrawal," he told the alphas. "Aggression."

  
Niall wasn't usually as high strung as he'd been today, even when it came to Louis.

  
"Speaking of," Zayn growled, obviously very unhappy with this information. "Get your bag."

  
Thinking the alpha was talking to Niall, Louis slumped against the wall as the blond obediently went to get his things.

  
"You too," Harry told him.

  
Louis looked up to find sparkling green eyes laser focused on him.

  
"Why?" he questioned, a little offended. He hadn't done anything to warrant a search.

  
"It's come to our attention that Niall's been hiding blockers and suppressants in his bag," Liam informed him, tone clipped. "Since you were privy to this knowledge and didn't see fit to share it with us, it's possible that you're keeping some of his things in your bag and we can't trust you to admit it. Therefore, we need to verify."

  
Louis sighed. He was suddenly very thankful that he'd taken all of his own suppressants and blockers (as well as everything else that could identify him as an omega and the alphas' clothing from their nest) and hidden it earlier after he'd taken his daily dose and sprayed himself down.

  
He knew the alphas would likely sniff around to make sure he didn't have any of Niall's suppressants or blockers hidden somewhere, and suddenly understood why Modest! had made him and Niall get different brands. His own stock pile would be safe. The alphas could scent around for Niall's brand all they wanted, but they wouldn't find Louis's.

 

He could only pray the alphas forgot about their clothing, because they could easily trace their own scent and find Louis's stash if they wanted to. It's not like it was particularly well hidden under the bed.

  
Bitterly secure that he'd done everything he could to follow Modest!'s Command, Louis went to get his bag.

  
Niall turned his in to Liam, and Louis handed his to Zayn. Neither alpha was very careful as they dumped the contents of both bags into two separate piles. The absence of Niall's suppressants and blockers was immediately obvious.

  
All three alphas turned to glare at the blond omega. "Niall-" Liam growled warningly.

  
Niall sighed and grabbed his bag from the alpha. He reached inside and unzipped the hidden pouch where he kept his supplies. Liam looked increasingly angry at the amount of thought that had gone into hiding them. Niall turned the bag upside down and allowed the drugs to fall out.

  
Zayn immediately checked Louis's bag in the same place for another pouch. He didn't find one, since Modest! had had them specially made, and put the zipper in a different place in case of just such situations as this.

  
Zayn picked up the Omegacilin and looked it over suspiciously. "This isn't just any old Repressrin off the street," he stated, naming the most popular (and arguably one of the most dangerous) suppressants on the black market.

  
"No," Niall agreed, fixing his gaze on the floor.

  
"Military grade," Louis murmured. "Second best on the market, only losing out to Omegax."

  
Louis took Omegax. He'd been on the drugs longer, and unforunately Modest! had started him off on some of the less stable drugs. To keep from having permanent health complications (something Modest! didn't want to get stuck with if all of this ever came to light) Louis had been put on the best suppressants money could buy (under the table). Omegax was also military grade, and was intended for long term use. Louis had been on it since just before Niall presented. Niall had never taken anything by Omegacilin.

  
"Where on earth did you get this?" Liam asked, taking the bottle from Zayn.

  
Both omegas stayed quiet. They couldn't answer that without implicating Modest! which was not an option.

  
Harry picked up the scent blocker. These were not illegal or highly controlled like suppressants were, and Niall had the Febreze brand. Louis used Glade. Harry sprayed into the air, away from the omegas, to ensure that this really was scent blocker. The alphas were really going the extra mile to verify everything rather than trust Niall. Louis's heart hurt for the younger boy.

  
He struggled not to cough as the harsh chemicals filled the air. Niall had talked about asking Modest! for something that wasn't so abrasive, as their current brands had started to really irritate Louis recently, but Louis didn't feel like going through the trouble to even ask. He didn't let Niall deal with Modest! on matters pertaining to their gender, because the reps were always so abusive. Louis himself was always depressed after getting off the phone with them, and he would never expose Niall to that kind of abuse.

  
Niall's phone rang at that moment, cutting off anything the alphas might want to say.

  
"It's been going off all morning," Louis informed the boys. So had his own, actually, but he had been on the phone with Modest! since pretty much the moment the other lads left the room. He had no doubt it was his mother. Or possibly his older brother. Niall was undoubtedly getting calls from his family as well.

  
Liam picked up the phone and glanced at caller ID to see that it was Niall's father. He motioned for the other two alphas to start going through Louis and Niall's things before answering the call.

  
"Hello?"

  
"Where's Niall?" Bobby Horan demanded from the other end of the line, voice loud enough to be heard even from where Louis was standing with his omega hearing. Niall winced.

  
"Standing right next to me," Liam answered calmly. "We've had quite the...hectic morning around here. I'm sorry it took this long for one of us to answer."

  
Niall may be part of their pack now, but his father was still alpha of his original pack. He should've been informed as soon as Niall presented, at the same time Liam was told.

  
"Was it him or Louis?" Bobby demanded. "You tell that boy that he has a lot of explaining to do either way," he added without waiting for an answer. "How goddamn dare he?"

  
"I take that to mean he never informed you that he presented either," Liam sighed. "Which means he's never had his First Command," he realized, a note of fear entering his voice. "Wait one second please."

  
He turned to Niall. "Niall, you are never, ever to obey a Command from an alpha that is not part of your pack, do you undestand?"Liam Commanded.

"Yes alpha," Niall agreed readily.  


This was the universal first Command all young omegas were supposed to receive. It ensured no random alpha off the street could walk up to Niall and order him to do something that would hurt him. Unfortunately, Modest! had been closer to the doctor's office than Liam, and Niall had gone into heat in the middle of a meeting with them. Neither omega had the chance to get their First Command before Modest! snatched them up.

  
Their safety net had been torn out from under them, before they'd even had a chance to set one up.

  
"Goddamnit," Bobby swore again. "You tell that boy that I'm in the car on my way. We'll talk when I get there, and he better have a really fucking good reason for not telling his family about his gender."

  
Bobby hung up as Niall winced again.

  
"I'm going to go ahead and assume you heard all of that," Liam said to the omega with an eyebrow raised in his direction.

  
Niall nodded, looking sick to his stomach. Louis knew he was dreading the confrontation that was coming up. It was going to be hell on the other omega to have nothing to say to all the people who asked, but Louis still couldn't help but be jealous. At least Niall's family knew he was an omega. Louis's was going to be furious at him for hiding Niall's orientation and being irresponsible enough to let him take suppressants, and Louis didn't even get the comfort or delicacy that everyone knew an omega needed to be treated with. They were fragile, and no one even knew just how true that was for Louis.

  
"What the hell are these?" Harry demanded, holding up Niall's Lists.

  
"Nothing!" Niall yipped, trying to snatch them back from Harry.

  
The Lists were actually a staple for any omega without an alpha. It was a relatively healthy way to keep track of things, but they could be very embarrassing. Lists were different with every omega, but invariably one of them was a Punishments List. It was basically a way for omegas who had no alpha to keep track of what they'd done and what they'd already punished themselves for. Without it, it was inevitable that the omega would punish him or herself more than once for a transgression because they either forgot that they'd done it, or decided the punishment wasn't severe enough.

  
Niall kept a List of punishable actions, one of suitable punishments, and one that was basically a log of what he'd done wrong and how he'd punished himself, to name a few. Unfortunately, the second and third Lists didn't always match up. If Niall had to punish himself in a hurry or unexpectedly, he was likely to harm himself, and writing it down on the third List was a way to remind him of his slip and prevent future errors.

  
Niall also had a List of rules, but he'd titled it as both his and Louis's, so Louis had removed it earlier.

  
Harry pulled the Lists away from Niall's grasp at the last second, and stood up to peruse them.

  
His eyebrows shot up as he took in what he was reading, and he beckoned Zayn and Liam closer.

  
"Mouthed off to alpha; 30 minutes in the corner. Upset alpha; finger bitten-" Liam read aloud. "Niall, are these...did you punish yourself?" he demanded.

  
Both omegas winced at how upset he sounded, but all three alphas were too focused on Niall to notice Louis.

  
"Not as often as I could've," Niall murmured. Which was true. Louis had stopped him any chance he got and replaced it with a punishment of his own that was both more suited to the offence and less harmful for Niall. The corner thing had been his contribution.

  
"Niall," Harry breathed, clenching the list tighter in his hand.

  
"Don't," Liam told him when he almost tore the paper. "We need that." He took the sheets from Harry, quickly glancing at the other titles with an impassive expression. "We have to go if we want to get to your appointment on time." He carefully folded the papers and put them in his wallet. "Is Louis clear?" he asked Zayn.

  
"Yeah," Zayn agreed absently, turning over the Omegacilin bottle to look at the side effects.

  
"These are all the possible withdrawal symptoms," Louis told the alphas, holding out a piece of paper as Niall rooted around in his pile of clothing to find something to wear. 

  
They all fixed him with a look that made him very uncomfortable. It was so disapproving that he once again dug his fingernails into his palms, but also evaluating enough to make him feel like they were one second away from telling him he gig was up for him as well.

  
"You'll stay here," Zayn ordered. "I don't want to hear about you leaving this room."

  
Any beta would've jeered at that, and Louis did his best to copy that reaction.

  
"I'm serious, Louis William," Zayn intoned sternly, grabbing hold of Louis and shaking him lightly.

  
Louis barely held back a visible wince as the headache that had died down with the presence of his pack flared into life once more. He physically could not take any more jostling right now, so he chose to comply. "Yes alpha," he sneered, putting all the sarcasm he possessed into the title.

  
It was enough for the alpha to snort almost fondly and let go of him.

  
"Stay here, Lou," he repeated much more gently now that he'd already gotten acquiescence. "The paparazzi around here are going to be insane. I don't want you out in that alone." He patted Louis's cheek and walked out the door.

  
"Listen to him," Harry agreed, dropping a kiss on his forehead as he passed.

  
Liam ruffled his hair, passing the message silently through a look.

  
Niall trailed behind all of them, and kissed Louis again on his way out.

  
"Be safe," he whispered in Louis's ear. "I'll know if you don't."

  
And then he was gone as well, and Louis was left more alone than he'd been since Niall presented two years ago.

  
A real beta would leave the room at this point just to spite the alphas' directions, but Louis honestly did not have the energy for that. He sighed as he collapsed on the bed, and then moaned when he phone rang again. It was undoubtedly his family wanting to yell at him.

He rolled over and buried his face in the pillow. They would just have to wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't thank you enough for the reviews :) This is the most writing I've done ever, I think, and you guys are the ones keeping me going. 
> 
> Thanks so much for reading and commenting! Hope you enjoyed this and have a great day!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Niall and the alphas see the doctor

"Where did you get these?" Doctor Analeah Smith asked, holding up Niall's suppressant bottle.

  
The omega sighed, knowing he couldn't tell her that. The appointment had barely even begun and he was already faced with questions he couldn't answer.

  
"He won't tell us," Liam sighed.

  
"This isn't a question that he can _chose_ to answer," Smith nearly snapped. "These are highly controlled. The military makes them, for Christ's sake. You can't get these from just any vendor on the black market. They're the real deal."

  
Everyone turned to look at Niall, and he couldn't help but fight. He and Louis had both fought Modest!'s Command so many times with no success, but they still tried every chance they got. They were literally fighting for their freedom, and that brought a whole new level of desperation to a person. It was almost hopeless without a Counter Command, but he still gave it his all in that moment.

  
He closed his eyes to block everything but his goal, and almost immediately began to feel the effects of trying to deny a Command. His body started to tremble and heat up as though he had a fever. His head exploded in pain and he bit his lip.

  
People were talking around him, but he drowned them out. Eyes on the prize. He could do this. He could...he could...

  
"Stop!" the loud Command broke through his concentration. He gasped, eyes flying wide as his body slumped to fall back against the exam table. The room spun, and he was vaguely aware of the three frantic alphas around him.

  
"What the hell just happened?" Liam barked, hovering near Niall without any idea what he could do to help.

  
"Command," Smith stuttered. "He-he tried to break a Command. Most omegas would never even _attempt_ -"

  
"What can we do to help him?" Harry interrupted.

  
"Support," Smith said, pulling herself together. "Cuddle him. Tell him he did well. That he's good. He's so fragile right now. Omegas aren't meant to try to fight against Commands."

  
All three alphas climbed onto the small exam table. Liam slid in behind Niall, spreading his legs so the omega could sit between them. Zayn climbed between Liam and the wall, taking hold of Niall's hand. Harry carefully pushed Niall's knees apart and settled on his stomach between them, half laying on Niall to support himself. Niall lay nearly catatonic and let them menouver him however they wanted.

  
"Good boy," Zayn cooed at the distressed blond. "Such a good boy."

  
"You tried so hard, Ni," Harry added. "You did so well. I'm so proud you fought so hard."

  
"We all are," Liam agreed. "You did so well, baby."

  
They continued in this vein for almost ten minutes before Niall started to respond. He blinked several times and looked around. 

  
"Oh," he sighed after a few seconds.

  
The world looked so strange and he felt so disorientated, but he was at least a little used to the feeling. It definitely wasn't the first time he'd experienced it.

  
He instantly got his face peppered in kisses.

  
Variations of "good boy, Niall," and "it'll be ok, baby," were repeated so many times that he couldn't keep track. His inner omega flushed with warmth at the praise it had so long wanted to be given. Niall couldn't help but purr a little as he snuggled into Liam, squeezed Zayn's hand, and patted Harry's head. He felt too exhausted to move, but more content than he had been in a very long time.

  
"I gave him the First Command this morning," Liam told the doctor as Niall relaxed. "I don't understand."

  
"It's not retroactive," Smith explained. "You Commanded him not to follow any more Commands from strangers. That doesn't do anything about the Commands he's already been given."

  
"What can we do to get rid of those?" Harry asked at once.

  
Smith hesitated. "Technically, you could give him a Counter Command, which is basically the opposite of the Command he's trying to follow. It's dangerous, though. He'd still have to fight the Command. His inner omega would be confused. The stronger Command would eventually prevail, but he'd react like he just did. I wouldn't recommend trying it any time soon. With the stress of coming down off of suppressants and his body being flooded with all the omega hormones that he hasn't felt in a while, it would be dangerous to risk trying to break a Command unnecessarily. At present, it seems like he's just been Commanded to keep quiet about where he got the drugs. That information is not going to change if you wait until he's healthy enough to risk Counter Commanding him."

  
Liam nodded, realization crossing his face. "And also that he was an omega," he stated, complete confidence in his voice.

  
Niall's eyes snapped to him immediately, stunned. How did Liam know that? How had he reached that conclusion just from the small amount of information he'd been given?

  
"Oh please," the alpha snorted at Niall's shocked look. "We've already figured out there was a reason you weren't telling that involved more than just you, Niall. And if you've had one Command, it's entirely possibly, and even likely that you've had others."

  
"A Command not to tell anyone he's an omega?" Smith questioned skeptically. "It would have to be one hell of an alpha to give one that would stick if he fought it."

  
"More than one," Niall muttered. He and Louis had long ago realized that Modest! had stopped them from telling any of their secrets, but put no restrictions on what they could divulge once they'd been discovered. The alphas now knew Niall had had a Command that stopped him from going to them, and Niall was free to speak about anything involving that Command. Another, completely separate, Command stopped him from telling them who'd given him the Command. He still couldn't speak about that.

  
Smith drew in a sharp breath. "That's...that's not good," she said. "How many? Can you tell us that?"

  
"Three," Niall answered instantly. "More alphas were involved, though. I only needed three Commands to shut me up. I can tell you anything about the Command that kept me silent before, since you know about it now except who gave it. They never expected me to be discovered (probably have a whole slew of Commands ready for the day I'm supposed to reveal my gender) so they never bothered curtailing what I could say if someone discovered I'd had a Command."

  
"And you thought it would be a good idea to fight against the Commands of three alphas?" Smith demanded furiously. "Do you know how dangerous that is?"

  
Uncertainty flashed through Niall. Dangerous? Sure, it was painful to fight an alpha's Command, but he'd never been too badly affected by it. He and Louis both routinely challenged the hold Modest! had on them. Sometimes it knocked them on their assess for a few days, but it had never been bad enough for them to give up on the idea.

  
A small, puzzled frown crossed his face. "Um....no?" he tried.

  
"Niall," Harry gasped, sitting up quickly and pulling the blond into his lap. "That's omega 101. It's so dangerous that it's included in _alpha_ 101 as omega abuse. Every alpha and omega knows that by the time they leave high school."

  
Niall shrugged unconcernedly. "I didn't present until I was twenty," he reminded them. "I took beta health classes and they mostly concerned how to avoid angering alphas or omegas and the female period."

  
"Oh dear," Smith sighed. "This is bad news. This is very bad news. Why didn't you do research once you presented? How have you even been surviving on that little knowledge?"

  
"My mom's an omega," Niall told her. "I've mostly been going off of what I know from her because I was Commanded to never do anything that could hint at my true gender. What business has a beta looking into omegas beyond a passing interest? Unless they're studying for some profession that involves omegas, which I was not, betas generally leave well enough alone except for porn. I didn't think that was a good place to be getting my information."

  
"Good boy," Zayn praised instantly, his hand landing protectively between Niall's shoulder blades. "You don't need to be exposed to that kind of...ungodliness."

  
The omega porn business was not, in general, a good thing to look into. This sprung mostly from the fact that the average omega was quite body-conscious and didn't enjoy such a private act being publicized. Those with no other options turned to the porn industry, and as a result rarely were omegas treated with the respect and reverence that they were in real life. Most of it was heavy BDSM, sometimes including torture porn and complete degradation as well. It was neither an accurate representation of how omegas were viewed in real life nor a good place for newly presented omegas to find out information about anything. Even fake omega porn was better than the real thing.

  
Niall settled in Harry's arms at the approval and rounded his spine into Zayn's touch. Another purr rumbled in his throat.

  
"So responsive," Smith marveled. "It's like you've never had an alpha speak kindly to you." Her tone made Niall distinctly uncomfortable. She sounded like she was observing a pet science project.

  
"Haven't," he muttered. He abruptly stopped purring and squirmed in Harry's lap.

  
The alpha growled, and Niall settled instantly.

  
"What do you mean you haven't?" Liam asked sharply.

  
"I-" Niall stuttered. "I presented and got the Command immediately. And I do mean immediately. They didn't even wait for my heat to be over, and then they dropped me at Louis's house. I rarely communicate with the alphas who gave the Command in the first place. Which is actually probably for the best as they're definitely not praise heavy."

  
He shuddered. Putting Louis back together after a conversation with Modest! could sometimes be a very scary thing. They did their absolute best to tear the older omega apart, and sometimes gotten far too close for Niall's peace of mind. He hated to think of how Louis must be feeling right now. Not only were the alphas angry at him, but he'd certainly gotten a call from Modest! and his family was probably furious with him as well. He couldn't imagine how Louis was juggling all of that with his isolation. _Niall_ was barely keeping it together, and he had to deal with less than _half_ of that with the support of the alphas.

  
Harry's grip on him tightened and he growled in anger this time instead of warning. Zayn and Liam joined him.

  
"This is...bad," Smith murmured. "You haven't got an easy road ahead of you. How long have you been on Omegacilin?"

  
"Two years," Niall told her. "It's the only thing I've ever taken."

  
"He is not the first omega those alphas have given this order to, then," Smith warned the alphas. "No one tries Omegacilin first. It's expensive and hard to get your hands on. If he's never been on anything else it's because some other omega went through the wringer with other drugs before they found Omegacilin. Most human trafficking rings (the only people sleazy enough to put omegas on suppressants long term) eventually get their hands on Omegacilin. It's by far one of the safest drugs on the market. It doesn't damage their _property_ ," she spit in disgust.

  
Niall winced, because that was very true. Louis had been on everything from repressrin, which had nearly killed him, to omegaphetamenes. Modest! hadn't found the Omegax Louis took now until just before Niall presented. They got both Omegax and Omegacilin from the same dealer, so the seconds drug had been an obvious choice when they suddenly had a second omega on their hands.

  
Zayn, Liam, and Harry all looked sick.

  
"Human trafficking?" Liam asked, making an obvious attempt to keep his voice steady. "I mean...I knew it was a danger for famous omegas, but I never thought-"

  
"I was never connected in any way to the human trafficking rings," Niall interrupted. He wanted to get that straight right away. No use in the alpha getting all worked up about something that hadn't even happened.

  
"But what if the other omegas those alphas Commanded were?" Zayn asked. "How would you know?"

  
Niall struggled with himself. His breathing started picking up once more as he subconsciously started fighting the Command again. Louis didn't deserve to be left by himself. If only Niall could just sneak out his name. It would be enough to send the alphas flying to investigate him. It would be easy to find the connections if they would only  _look_. 

  
"Stop!" Liam barked, Command heavy in his voice. "You will not fight the Commands those alphas gave you, Niall James Horan. Didn't you listen to Harry when he said it was dangerous?"

  
"Sorry," Niall panted, slumping exhaustedly against Harry. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize..." he trailed off, too tired to continue.

  
"It's an embedded instinct?" Smith demanded. "That's...that's....wow."

  
"What's that mean?" Liam questioned.

  
"He's trained himself to fight the Command so thoroughly that it's become an instinct."

  
"Not too hard," Niall whispered. "Never hard enough for you to realize. It's practice. The more you resist an alpha's Command, the easier it gets. Almost told you once, but they caught me. Used to only have one Command on me. They added two and three after that."

  
"In your health, you can't continue that," Smith warned him. "Omegacilin is one of the least damaging suppressants, but it's far from harmless. Your hormones are entirely out of wack and it's going to be very difficult to adjust to the influx of omega hormones that the pills have been suppressing. You're going to be in frail enough health without adding the stress of fighting Commands to that."

  
"I didn't do it on purpose," Niall defended. "Like you said; it's instinct, not a conscious decision."

  
"You will not fight the other alphas' Commands without permission, Niall," Harry reiterated just as Commandingly as Liam had. The double assurance would make sure it didn't happen again.

  
"Yes alpha," he acquiesced.

  
"On to the reason you're here," Smith said. "You're in fairly good health for an omega who's been living without an alpha. Your weight isn't as low as would be expected, and there's no lasting signs of self harm."

  
Of course Niall was doing better than they'd thought. He had Louis to keep him in line. The older omega had been with Niall every step of the way and knew how to handle the blond better than anyone else. He wouldn't let Niall get too hurt by their secret.

  
"We found these," Liam interrupted, removing Niall's Lists from his wallet.

  
Niall winced, because how embarrassing. He'd never meant for anyone to see his Lists. Even Louis hadn't gone through them very thoroughly, only glance over the appropriate punishments and punishable acts. Louis knew very well how private those were. The alphas didn't seem to care very much, and Niall had the sinking suspicion that they would be reading every single word on each sheet.

  
Smith recognized them instantly.

  
"I would be more concerned if you didn't," she told the alphas. "These are a pretty healthy way to cope with the absence of an alpha in an omega's life. They help him keep track of things, and measure his own behavior. Without them, he could punish himself for anything at the drop of a hat and sometimes multiple times for the same thing. These are both a guideline and a reminder of times he's slipped. They motivate him to avoid true self harm because then he'd have to record it and admit he'd sunk that low again."

  
Niall dropped his eyes as shame coiled in his gut at how she'd worded that. The alphas frowned.

  
"My mother kept them for a while," Niall reminisced. "Whenever Dad got called away from home for longer than a week, Mom would keep Lists. Dad always insisted to have them when he got home. It helped him keep track of how she was really doing instead of just taking her word for being fine."

  
Smith nodded. "That's pretty common. I would go so far as to say most alphas who are frequently absent from home do it. Many therapists suggest it. It's considered a pretty standard omega mental health indicator. I would expect the acts listed to escalate, though," Smith warned. "The longer an omega is left alone, the worse their punishments for themselves get. What is the worst thing you've ever done?"

  
Niall blinked at the intrusive question. Punishments were a matter between an omega and his or her alpha(s). No one outside of their pack had any right to know anything about punishments. On the other hand, the doctor obviously just wanted an idea of how unstable Niall was.

  
He looked up at the alphas for guidance. Should he tell her?

  
Liam nodded at him, though he looked displeased. Niall could already see him trying to calculate how quickly they could get a better doctor.

  
"I bite my fingers," Niall admitted. "I once chewed a nail off."

  
All three alphas winced, but Smith's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "You do realize that if you're lying, they're going to know about it when they read through that?" she questioned, pointing at the Lists.

  
A low growl rumbled out of Zayn at the insinuation that Niall was lying. Rarely did Niall lie, especially when he had another choice, and even more so when he knew he'd be discovered anyway.

  
"I'm not lying," Niall stiffly informed Smith.

  
"If that's true, then it's remarkable you haven't done anything worse. I've never met an omega who's concealed themself for over a month and hasn't managed to scar themself."

  
Niall winced. He knew that all too well; Louis had marked himself up fairly badly before Niall presented.

  
"Louis," he mumbled without thinking.

  
The alphas stiffened in surprise. Niall had been very closed lipped about Louis, not like he had any other choice, and the alphas were understandably taken aback that he'd mention their fifth member with prodding.

  
"What?" Smith inquired, frowning.

  
"Our beta, Louis, knew Niall was an omega. Niall was dropped on his doorstep in heat and begged him not to tell us. Pretty ingenious of them to leave Niall there, actually. Louis is the only one out of all of us that they could manipulate into keeping quiet about Niall's orientation."

  
Harry had no idea how right he was about them being able to play Louis like a puppet.

  
Smith's frown deepened. "In all honesty, a beta should not be able to keep him in this good of condition," she said. "Betas don't understand the feelings of an omega or an alpha well enough to be able to calm an upset omega. They usually end up doing more harm than good, honestly. Unless, of course, they're trained."

  
She left the "like me" off the end, but everyone still heard it clearly anyway. Niall doubted even the most extensive training was good enough for a beta to really understand. Even another omega who had never been through the same ordeal would struggle to comprehend what Niall and Louis had endured.

  
"Keep an eye out for self-harm," Smith instructed the alphas. "His behavior will be odd the next few days as his body tries to re-balance itself. All his hormones are out of wack right now, and the reset can be quite brutal. He may find himself doing things that he feels are out of character, but are merely him settling himself into his dynamic as an omega."

  
"Headaches and confusion are common in the first few weeks off suppressants. The drugs block his ability to acutely smell alphas or feel the emotions other omegas can. Adjusting to being constantly surrounded by so many scents and feelings can be very overwhelming and may cause panic attacks."

  
"As far as sexual health is concerned, an omega has to be on Omegacilin for at least six years for it to start to affect fertility. He's in the clear as far as that's concerned. He may experience periods of extreme arousal, almost heat like in intensity, as omegas are naturally very sexual creatures and he isn't used to those kind of hormones flooding his system. This may or may not settle down over the next few years. It's possible that he'll have to deal with it for his whole life. Even if it does recede, the odd episode every once in a while should be expected."

  
"Other normal omega functions may be disrupted as well. You may find his submission to be complete or non-existent. Suppressants block natural omegas acts of submission like bearing one's neck or dropping to your knees in front of an angry alpha. Some omegas never recover the instinct while others are flooded with it so strongly that it's impossible to resist. He may be extremely sensitive to you or entirely indifferent."

  
"Niall could go into heat at any time, and you shouldn't expect his cycle to be normal. It may never be on schedule, and if it is it won't be for some time. Regardless, you shouldn't experience anything strange with it. It should proceed just as any other omega's heat would, if maybe a little more intense. This will likely result in increased fertility as his body tries to make up for lots time, and if he conceives it will likely be multiples."

  
Niall placed his hands on his stomach, startled at the mere thought. Somehow, he'd always imagined Louis would be the one carrying most of their babies.

  
"Birth control should be safe for him, but he should never so much as think of touching suppressants or even blockers again. His body could take any one of them as indication that he's headed back into the alpha-less days and go completely haywire. Think of them as triggers."

  
"I would advise waiting at least six months before trying to Counter Command him. He should be fairly stable by that time. In fact, I would recommend waiting that long to start birth control as well. If his heat comes before that or he conceives out of heat, it would be safer for him to carry the baby rather than risk introducing more drugs to his system before he's completely purged the last ones. It isn't likely that he would react badly to birth control, but it is distinctly possible and a risk that it was be much better to avoid."

  
"Monitor him closely. Things that seem trivial can blow up quickly with suppressed omegas. Marking him would really be the best thing you could possibly do. It will give you a link with him that will let you know when he's compromised. You will be in tune with his needs, and that's exactly what's best and safest right now," Smith wound down. "It'll be extremely overwhelming at first, especially if all three of you claim him, but it's for the best in the long run. When his heat comes, that's my suggestion."

  
All four of them were affronted at the insinuation that they would mate. While it was entirely likely they actually _would_ , it was none of this woman's business. It would have been far more professional for her to speak in more ambiguous terms. "An alpha" instead of "you" would have been much more polite. And to go so far as to _suggest_ it was more than crossing the line between doctor and nosy outsider. She could've simply stated that it would be beneficial and left it at that.

  
"Thank you for your time," Liam gritted out, barely hanging on to his own manners.

  
"Oh it was no problem," she assured him. "I'm looking forward to seeing you again. Call with any questions any time. Night or day, I'm always available."

  
Niall shifted uncomfortably again at the way she was eyeing him as she handed Liam her phone number.

  
Liam made a vaguely concurring noise that Niall knew translated to approximately "no way in hell." The alpha would undoubtedly be finding Niall a new doctor, one with much more professionalism than this one.

  
"Let's get you back to the hotel, Niall. I'm sure you could use a nap, and we need to see how Louis's doing," Zayn said as the alphas got up.

  
He took Niall from Harry's lap and set him on his own hip. It was possible the paparazzi had gotten wind of their location by now, and the alphas weren't going to let Niall wander alone through that. He couldn't say he blamed them, and was even grateful. It had been quite scary getting out of the hotel earlier.

  
"We need to sit down with management as well," Liam muttered, "We're supposed to have a concert tomorrow. And your father should be here by any minute now," he added as they started to walk out of the building.

  
Almost as if on cue, Niall's phone rang with his father popping up on caller ID. Harry had, who had been holding on to Niall's phone for him since the alphas were very wary about letting him have contact with anyone they hadn't yet vetted, answered it instantly. His conversation was short and consisted of telling Bobby the location of their hotel and their room numbers.

  
Niall sighed and clutched on to Zayn. This was going to be a very long day. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...So great news guys! I'm not dead (laughs nervously). I got really bust with family over break and then this semester just came up swinging. I had to read a novel that was over 300 pages in the first weekend back and it's barely eased up. Added to that I've been pretty sick lately, so it's been awhile since I had time to write. I'm sorry guys :/ I'll try to keep to a more regular schedule now, but I'm making absolutely no promises. I'm really, really busy and barely staying afloat some days. Updates will be sporadic for awhile, but I've still got plenty of ideas, so we're still going to keep things coming for several more chapters at least. 
> 
> This chapter was hard for me. I prefer interactions to world building and facts, but this needed to be done. I've also realized that I'm setting myself up to write smut sometime soon and that was kind of discouraging. As a virgin, I'm kind of nervous to even get near that. Oh well, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it :)
> 
> Have a great day and happy reading!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Louis gets a call from his mother that raises a few suspicions for Liam. Niall's father arrives to confront his omega son.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Louis's baby with Brianna is mentioned in this chapter. I would like everyone to know that I personally think this is none of my business, but it worked better for the plot of the story that the baby isn't Louis's. This is NOT a comment on my personal beliefs on the baby situation. It's just a fact that Louis was claiming the baby at the time they went on break, and it doesn't fit my universe for it to actually be his. So I made it not his.

Despite that fact that his phone had been ringing pretty much constantly since he got off the phone with Modest!, Louis managed to catch a quick nap while the rest were at the doctors. It was very much necessary and his body didn't give him much choice in the matter. Touring was really hard on him, much more so than Niall, and he was constantly struggling to keep up with the pace the rest of them easily maintained. The added stress of having the alphas angry at him pushed him over the edge as usual and his body let him know that loud and clear.

The ringing of his phone woke him again in seemingly no time at all. Louis groaned and rolled over, burying his face in the pillow and trying to ignore it for a few more seconds. He knew he'd have to answer sometime, though, and figured it would be best to get it over with now seeing as the alphas were probably going to book the rest of the day. 

He pulled himself out of the pillow and leaned over to grab his phone. His mother and all his siblings had been calling all morning, and he took a deep breath as he saw it was his mum this time. 

"Hello?" he asked cautiously. As a beta herself, his mum was a very independent and fierce woman. She'd raised her children the way she believed was right, and if they didn't stick to it then by god she would know why. Louis was not looking forward to this conversation. 

"Louis William Tomlinson!" she yelled down the phone. He winced. A great start. "How dare you ignore me for this long!? Do you know how worried we've been?"

His headache suddenly flared into life again at her angry tone. 

"I'm sorry, Mum," he muttered. "I didn't...I mean...it's just kind of been a crazy morning over here."

"Says the boy who didn't have to deal with the idea that their baby had been hiding his orientation!" she shrieked. His mum didn't usually yell this much. 

Louis felt himself becoming agitated, and took a deep breath. He'd already hurt himself so much this morning. He really, _really_ should try to avoid any more self harm, but he was getting dangerously close to that frame of mind once more. His hand itched to reach down and scratch at his already cut hips. To resist, he curled himself into a ball, but that merely put his ankle within reach. Before he even knew what was happening, he had his free hand wrapped one slim limb and his fingernails digging in. 

"I'm sorry," he repeated. "But it was Niall, Mum. Niall's an omega."

A note of relief entered her voice, but it was almost overshadowed by her growing anger. 

"And you hid it from everyone!?" she demanded. "Even knowing how much that could hurt him, you didn't tell someone about it? I raised you better than this, Louis William!"

Louis winced. Tears started to his eyes. That really hurt. His mum _had_ raised him better. His grandmother had been an omega, and his mother had always had the utmost respect for the older woman. She'd raised every one of her seven children to know how special omegas were and how delicately they should be treated, Louis most of all because he was expected to present as one. She wanted him to know what to expect from an alpha that was worthy of her baby boy's attention. 

More than that, her disappointment was a stab to Louis's heart. His mother had always been so careful with him because she'd thought he would be an omega and she knew the power words had to hurt him. As a firmly established "beta" she could be less cautious because betas were more than able to shake off a little scolding. Words didn’t sting so deeply for a beta. But Louis _wasn't_ a beta, and he couldn't deal with the idea that he'd upset his mum so much. He loved her so much and knowing she was ashamed of his behavior threw him right over the precipice he'd been dangling on and down a quite steep cliff. 

He dragged his nails around his ankle, instantly drawing blood. It was just high enough that he could pull his pants down over it later, something that he was concerned about even in the depths of the depression he was currently feeling. Unfortunately, the pain wasn't enough. When Modest! berated Louis it took a lot more to upset him, and a lot less to settle any guilt he may feel, but with his mother? He respected her opinion so much more and she meant so much to him. The small cuts he had created were no where near enough. 

Without thinking, he dug his thumb nail viciously under his pinky nail and pushed hard. He felt the pinky nail start to separate from it's bed, but couldn't seem to stop himself. 

"I _know_ ," he whispered to his mother, barely able to get the words out. "I _know_ you did Mum. I'm _so sorry_."

"You think that makes this any better?" she asked, still yelling. His pinky nail was half way pulled up now. The pain felt fitting. "It won't take back the damage done to Niall! You hurt an _omega_ , Louis."

That statement packed much less of a punch than it should've in his mother's view. Betas were biologically built to take care of omegas. As another omega, Louis didn't have that drive. Morally, it was devastating that he'd hurt another person, but Niall being an omega rather than a beta or alpha didn't make it worse. 

He whimpered, more at the pain and his mother's anger than her last words, but he wouldn't tell her that. He suddenly became aware of Niall's mind reaching out desperately towards his own, trying to calm him. Knowing he was upset his lover as well as his mother was really just too much for Louis at this specific second, and he finally tore his nail off. 

His inner omega settled a little at the punishment, but remained snarling in the back of his mind still. At least it wasn't howling for justice anymore. 

In the absence of that noise, his headache receded just a fraction and he realized something he should've registered much earlier: Niall's mind was moving towards him. Which meant the alphas were on their way back and would likely be here any second, if the link was anything to go by. And Louis was sitting in the middle of a bed he'd stained with his own blood, holding his own finger nail in one hand with a raw and bleeding spot left where it used to be on the other hand. 

"Mum-" he started without knowing what he was going to say as he got out of bed and started cleaning up. 

He leaned over and dug under the bed for the small medical kit he kept for occasions such as this. It was a simple matter to disinfect the claw marks and wind a length of bandage around his still bleeding ankle. It just took a bit longer with his phone tucked between his should had head. 

"No, Louis," his mother interrupted. As much as he didn't want to hear any more recrimination, he was thankful because he really didn't have anything to say and couldn't concentrate on the conversation as he cleared things up. 

He crossed the room to the bathroom and used tissues to clear the blood away from where it had dripped all over his foot and some of what was drenching his hand. There was really nothing he could do to cover that. The alphas were going to see it. He did the best he could anyway. 

"I've never been more disappointed in any of my children," his mother continued, making him dig underneath his ring finger before he even realized it. "I don't even want to talk to you right now."

Louis went back into the main room and rummaged in the kit for the drugs that would make his blood smell neutral. He'd have to spray everything he'd already bled on, but this would stop the fresh blood from alerting the alphas of his gender. He swallowed two dry. They would give him an awful stomachache later when they mixed with his suppressants but it wasn't anything he hadn't experienced before. 

He glanced longingly at the Advil, but knew he couldn't have any. It also mixed badly with Omegax, and taking the three drugs together would be a _very_ bad idea. The kind that could land him in the hospital.

Instead, he grabbed the medical tape before closing the case and pushing it back under the bed. 

"I can't believe I raised a child who would hurt someone like that," his mother went on as he traipsed back into the bathroom. 

The nail on his ring finger was mostly detached now and starting to bleed. Louis pushed just a little harder, and it came up. He dropped it carelessly in the trash and thrust his hand under the sink. 

"You've completely flouted everything I ever taught you. I don't know how you expect anyone to be able to trust you again."

Louis folded several tissues into pads and taped them to his raw nail beds. The pain felt well deserved. He rinsed his hand again and watched at the water turned pink and swirled down the drain. 

There was silence for a few seconds. Louis felt curiously numb as he returned to the main room once more and sprayed down every surface he'd bled on with blockers. 

“I just don’t know what to do with you right now, Louis,” his mother sighed at last. “Your brother is going to meet up with you. He can’t get time off of work right now, but he’ll be there in a few weeks. You’d better have something more to say to him than you did to me.”

"I'll send someone to pick him up," Louis replied even as his stomach dropped. He had no idea how he was going to fool his brother right now. He was barely sneaking passed Zayn, Liam, and Harry, let alone the man who had practically raised him. He sank back down onto the bed in despair, then took a deep breath and shook his head. That was a problem for later. He had other things to worry about right now. 

"Expect a punishment," his mother warned him as the door to the hotel room opened again and Liam walked in. 

"Louis-" he began, but stopped when he saw Louis was on the phone. Louis pushed his mangled hand under the pillow and nodded a half-hearted greeting. 

"Is that Liam?" his mother demanded. "Give him the phone," she ordered without waiting for an answer. 

"It's my mom," Louis told the older boy, unable to meet his eyes. 

Liam took the proffered phone. "Hello?"

“Ernest will be down to visit in a few weeks," Louis mother said without preamble. "Until he gets there, I'd really appreciate it if you could keep an eye on Louis. I know he's a beta and part of your pack now, but I'm still his mother and I would feel a lot better right now if I knew someone was watching him."

"Of course," Liam agreed instantly. "I think we all need time to work things out as a pack right now and Louis needs to know his role in the group."

"What he _needs_ is a good hard spanking on his bare bum," Louis heard his mum snap. He flushed red and hid his face in the pillow, but didn't miss Liam's surprised expression. Betas weren't usually spanked passed about ten. Spanking fell at least partially into an act of dominance, and that wasn’t something betas responded well to. It was odd that Louis tolerated anyone spanking him, let alone reacted positively to it. ”Sorry,” his mum apologized to Liam after a few calming breaths. 

Technically she didn't have to. Betas weren't under the rule of alphas the way omegas were. While it would be rude of her to say that about an omega in Liam's pack, even if he _was_ her own son, it was fine because he was a "beta." Omegas were sanctioned by whoever their alpha happened to be at the moment, but betas were more autonomous and could chose for themselves who they wanted to obey. It was a protection instinct which sprang from the fact that omegas were more vulnerable to following directions that could hurt them while betas had no such inclination. 

"It's quite alright," Liam assured her. "This is an upsetting situation for all of us." His eyes didn't leave Louis, evaluating his reaction to his mother's threat. 

"Thanks," his mother said shortly. 

“It’s no trouble,” Liam assured her. “Louis means a lot to us as well. We’ll look after him.”

"I'll see you soon," Jay said, and abruptly killed the connection. 

"She's pretty angry," Liam observed. 

Louis snorted. "That would be an understatement."

"We're all going to meet with Niall's dad in our room," Liam told him. "You're coming."

It wasn't a question. 

Louis sighed and got up, shoving his hand into his sweatpants's pocket. The heavy blockers in the air were keeping Liam from smelling his blood in this room, but that would fade as soon as they entered the hallway. The cloth should muffle the scent enough in the open halls to keep it concealed until they reached the confines of the alpha's room. Louis was clinging to a nonexistent hope that they wouldn't smell it even then. 

Liam was silent as they hurried down the hall to the alphas' room. He only paused a second with Paul, who had been standing dutifully outside Louis's room the entire morning, to confirm that Louis had followed directions and stayed in his room. A curious look crossed his face at the affirmation, one that Louis couldn’t read, but didn’t like. Liam wasn’t dumb. As alert as he was right now, Louis’s behavior and his conversation with Jay were clear hints that something wasn’t quite as he’d thought it was. Louis would have to watch his behavior around the Primus. 

The alphas liked to get at least one room with a king bed that all of them could fit on, so Louis was unsurprised when the suite they entered had an extravagant and over large bed as its main feature. Niall was sitting on it, bouncing up and down, while Harry leaned against a wall watching him fondly and Zayn tried convince him to eat. This reminded Louis that they'd all skipped breakfast, but he found himself unbothered by this fact. He was in no way hungry. 

"I'll eat at lunch, Zee," Niall claimed. "Me Da's going to be here any second and I don't have time now. I ate the sandwich in the car on the way back. I'm good for now."

Correction: _Louis_ had skipped breakfast. 

"That's never been enough food for you, Niall," Liam joined the conversation. 

"Lou!" Niall cried when his head snapped up at Liam's return and he caught sight of the brunet. 

He flew across the room and wrapped Louis in a hug that knocked him back several steps.

"Hello Ni," Louis responded, hugging back with one arm. He left his hurt hand in his pocket. 

Liam chuckled and shut the door. 

"Don't strangle him, Niall," Zayn laughed.

Niall drew back and gave Louis a once over, frowning at the hand he was hiding in his pocket. Louis's mental state told him that something was wrong and Louis never hugged back with just one arm. He knew better than to draw attention to it, though. At least, not when the alphas were around. 

He pulled Louis towards the bed by his good hand, but they only got half way there before Harry frowned and sniffed the air distinctively. Of the three alphas, he had the best sense of smell. 

Louis almost froze, and struggled to maintain a relaxed posture. Niall felt the shift and cut his eyes over worriedly. 

"Why do I smell blood?" Harry demanded sharply. 

Louis lost the battle and tensed at that. Everyone's eyes flew to the hand he’d suspiciously kept in his pocket at the motion. 

Niall tugged at it and gasped when the stench of blood became much more prominent. The alphas crowded around them, almost jostling each other in effort to see the injury.

" _Louis_!" Niall gasped at the sight before him. 

"I um, I slammed my hand in the door earlier," Louis lied for the sake of the alphas. 

Zayn gently took his hand from Niall and carefully prodded at the soaked tissues over his nails. "Hard enough to split your nails?" he questioned skeptically. 

Louis winced. "Uh...hard enough to detach them, actually," Louis admitted, feigning sheepishness. 

Everyone's eyes sharpened at that. He could feel their concentrated gazes. 

" _What_?" Harry demanded. "How could you-?"

"I didn't _mean_ to," Louis lied quickly. 

Niall interrupted everything as he grabbed Louis's arm just under the handprints Liam had pushed into his skin earlier and jerked Louis's hand towards him. The look in his eyes was devastated as he carefully pealed back the makeshift bandages and touched at the raw skin. 

Louis winced as the tissue pulled at the wounds, and almost felt tears spring up at Niall's expression. Of all of them, only Niall knew how he'd really gotten them. Louis knew it worried Niall intensely that this had happened less than a day from losing Niall's support. Louis had grown used to Niall being around to stop him when he was going too far. The loss of that and added stress of the day were a recipe for disaster. 

The alphas all gasped at Louis's fingers, but it wasn't anything he and Niall hadn't seen before. They'd both punished themselves this way, though it was more unusual that they resorted to such desperate measures. It was such a harsh punishment, and so obvious. Louis liked to stick with toenails as they were less visible, but he'd attacked his own fingers a few times as well. 

Blood started to pool in the nail beds and would overflow at any second. Louis took his tissues back from Niall, but they were already soaked. Any more and they would be dripping themselves. 

Niall released him and pushed him away a little. Louis could feel his hurt, recrimination, and horror through their link. Niall was angry that he'd done this to himself. Louis struggled at the brink of depression once more at the realization. 

The alphas felt the shift in the air, but didn't understand what had caused it. They glanced between Niall and Louis in confusion. 

Liam took his hand this time and led him to the bathroom for more tissues to wrap them again. Harry and Zayn trailed behind like lost puppies, unsure what to do but knowing they couldn't do nothing. Niall went back to the bed. 

Louis was jolted out of the numbness he'd still been swimming through when Niall's emotions reached him once more. He knew without seeing that the blond was chewing on his fingers. More than anyone, Niall understood his situation, and he knew it wasn't very fair of him to be upset with Louis for following his instincts. He also knew his disapproval hurt Louis, and felt guilty over it. They were both doing the best they could. It was just hard when that wasn’t enough. 

Louis pulled away from the alphas, barely hearing their protests. They followed him back into the main room, still confused. Niall didn't even seem to register them, still biting his fingers. Louis pulled the digits out his mouth and kissed them gently. 

"No," he told the other omega simply. He tucked Niall's hand against his chest, over his bite mark, then slid it down over his heart. Niall's fingers clenched there, but not hard enough to hurt Louis more. 

"How did you-?" Zayn murmured, but he cut himself off when he noticed the blood smearing down Louis's hand. He took the tissues from Liam, and finished wrapping Louis's fingers before it could spread any more. 

Louis continued to hold onto Niall with the other hand. 

There was an impatient knock on the door just as Zayn finished. Louis shifted his hold on Niall's hand and brought it to his mouth once more. He kissed the blond's palm, then held his fingers tightly as he sat next to him on the bed. Niall's nails dug into him a little in anxiety at meeting his father. Louis didn't mind. The pain helped him balance himself. 

Liam hurried to the door while Niall and Louis situated themselves practically on top of each other on the bed. 

"Hello," Liam greeted as he opened the door after confirming that it was indeed Niall's father knocking. 

Bobby grunted vaguely in response, laser focused on his son. "You better have one _hell_ of a good excuse thought out for this," he hissed angrily. Obviously the car ride had done nothing to calm his temper. 

Harry couldn't help but set a protective hand on the omega's shoulder. "We've recently discovered that Niall had a Command preventing him from telling anyone his orientation," he informed Bobby.

Louis inadvertently tightened his grip on the blood in surprise that was obvious to everyone in the room, though not for the reason they believed. He knew very well that Niall had had Commands in the multiple. He hadn't known the alphas would catch on so quickly to that fact. 

"You didn't know," Liam observed with a note of relief. 

Louis shot him an insulted look and didn't bother dignifying that with an answer. He liked to think that if he'd really been a beta, he would've fought through his instincts if he had known Niall was under a damaging Command. 

"But you still knew he was an omega, and you never told that," Bobby asserted, angry at the smaller boy. 

"I asked him not to," Niall almost snarled back. "When I met him for the first time as an omega in heat. He's only a beta. You can't expect him to resist that without knowing why I'd asked in the first place."

Bobby looked slightly shocked at Niall's vehemence. Louis didn't blame him. They both knew Niall didn't get that worked up over anyone other than an omega. No beta would make him react like that. 

"Niall is coming down off of suppressants," Louis explained to Bobby. "One of the symptoms is aggression. Besides, he's always been quite possessive."

Niall practically purred at that, pulling the neck of Louis's shirt down so his mark was visible. 

"You-you let him mark you?" Bobby asked, stunned. Usually it was the other way around, with the beta marking the omega. Louis was naturally more submissive than Niall, though, no matter that they were both omegas, so he took Niall's mark. 

Louis shrugged at Bobby. "Like I said: possessive. It makes him happy, so why should I deny him?"

"Betas _hate_ being marked," Bobby pointed out suspiciously. 

And that was true. It was part of the reason alpha/beta pairs didn't work out very well. Alphas were generally extremely possessive and liked to leave some kind of proof that their partner belonged to them. And more than that, biting gave them a mental bond with said partner. The one between and alpha and beta was weak, much like the one between Louis and Niall, but it was enough to reassure an alpha if only the beta would take it. Most betas hated the action, as the bond let alphas know where they were and how they were doing at all times. Their fierce love of independence detested that idea. 

"Niall isn't an alpha," Louis replied. "Betas mark omegas all the time and it creates the same bond Niall and I have. The only thing different about us is who's doing the marking. I'm not so naturally dominant as to demand that it be me."

Everyone frowned in confusion. Louis knew it was an up close and personal look at where his dynamic really sat. The more dominant person in a partnership would _always_ be the one to mark. Louis was basically admitting that he was more submissive than Niall. It wasn't _unheard of_ for a beta to be more submissive than an omega, but it was certainly very rare. 

"I'm not very submissive," Niall cut in. "Never have been. Add in suppressants that dampen any submissive instincts I might have, and it isn't even surprising that Louis is less dominant."

Louis knew that this excuse would have the alphas even more on edge. While he hadn't revealed his orientation, he _had_ just admitted that his dynamic as a beta was much more submissive than he'd even let on. The alphas would be watching him much more closely. Still, it was the best they could come up with to explain their behavior on such short notice. 

"I suppose," Bobby hummed. Having raised the boy, he knew first hand how head strong Niall could be. He sighed and took a few deep breaths. He looked like he was turning everything over in his head, fitting it into the right places and connecting dots that had always been scattered about aimlessly before. 

"Come here," he finally said, pointing to the space in front of him.

Niall obeyed immediately. His father may not be his Primus any more, but he was still an influential alpha in his life. Liam, Zayn, and Harry knew this well enough not to interrupt the father an son, even though their alpha instincts bucked against anyone else ordering around their omega. 

Bobby looked over Niall, taking in everything from his height to his more delicate features; everything that should have given him away as an omega. He placed his hands on Niall's checks and inspected his face, looking for any hints of unhappiness. Finally satisfied, he wrapped the small boy in his arms. Niall hung on tight, standing on his tip toes in an attempt to wrap his arms around the alpha's neck. Niall was tall for an omega, but not tall enough to comfortably hug an alpha like this. 

Bobby slid his hand under the omega's armpits and lifted Niall. The blond wrapped his legs around his father's waist, buried his face near the alpha's scent gland in his neck, and held on tight. It had been a long time since Niall received any attention from his family geared towards his omega dynamic. They had all expected him to present as one, and Niall spent his whole childhood being treated like an omega. When he didn't present, that treatment stopped. It wasn't appropriate or welcome for a beta. His family had assumed that he just hadn't wanted to brush off their affection, so put up with the behavior rather than reveled in it as he really did. For Niall, this was like water to a man wandering in the desert; cherished and rare. 

Louis felt emotion well up in their bond, and Niall started to cry silently. Bobby held him and cooed gently at his distressed youngest child. Niall was his baby, his _omega_ baby, and Bobby would hold him for however long he was permitted. It was so nice to be allowed to treat Niall like his instincts had been screaming to all these years. 

Bobby began to emit a low, steady growl; the alpha's version of an omega's purr. Purring was unique to omegas, but contented alphas growled low and deep to express pleasure. It was a very different sound than their angry or warning growls and soothed any omegas present. 

Louis did his best not to show just how affected he was by the noise. He put pressure on his still bleeding fingers and used the pain to keep himself tense as the current situation required. Betas couldn't tell the difference between the growls of an alpha. The subtle cadences were lost on their less sensitive ears. Any growl was threatening to betas. It was another reason alpha/beta pairings were a bad idea. 

Harry set a calming hand on his shoulder, almost making Louis jump out of his skin. With his newly revealed more submissive dynamic, the alphas would be much more careful with him. He knew that intellectually, but it hadn't quite registered yet with his overwhelmed instincts.

He allowed himself to relax under the alpha's hold as he had refused to let himself before. 

Louis felt the exact moment that Niall dropped off to sleep. It had been a long day, and Louis couldn't blame the younger omega for being overcome by exhaustion. He was a little jealous, despite the fact that he'd slept earlier. His body was still wavering under the strain of touring life and angry alphas; he really wanted nothing more than to sleep for days. 

It took Bobby almost a minute and a half to realize that Niall was out. Once he did, he headed towards the bed. Louis dodged quickly out of his way and watched as he tenderly tucked Niall in and kissed his forehead. Omega children were treasured, especially by alpha parents, and Bobby's obvious reluctance to leave Niall was evident in the way he lingered over the boy. 

Finally he sighed and took a few steps back, locking gazes with Liam. The younger alpha tilted his head towards the door, and Bobby nodded in agreement. Louis and Zayn followed them while Harry remained with Niall. No way would the alphas be leaving their omega alone any time soon.

Bobby stayed quiet, processing what his day had already brought (and it wasn't even noon yet), until they were in the double Zayn and Harry were supposed to be sharing. As Primus, Liam was always supposed to have a choice of having his own room, even if the alphas sometimes stayed together. 

"What a mess," the older many finally sighed, dropping his head into his hands. 

"No kidding," Zayn agreed. 

He put a hand on Louis's shoulder and guided him over to one of the beds. Louis, following the instincts engrained by four years of pretending to be a beta, twitched his shoulders in an attempt to throw Zayn off. 

"Settle," Zayn almost snarled at him. "You've got a hell of a lot of explaining to do yourself. You've never said anything about submissive instincts, let alone _acted_ like you had them."

Louis fought very hard not to cower at the angry tone, but failed and flinched back a little. Zayn's grip on him tightened reassuringly. He pushed Louis down gently on the bed and stood before him with arms crossed over his chest. 

"Well..." Louis hesitated, unsure how he was going to spin this. "It's not right, is it?” he continued after a second's pause. "I'm a beta. I'm supposed to act like one. It's not right for me to play at being an omega."

"It's never wrong for you to follow your instincts," Bobby boomed loudly. "Is it wrong that Niall's not as submissive as an omega's supposed to be? No, so why should it be wrong that you're not as dominant as a beta usually is."

"He's right, Louis," Liam agreed. "I never want to hear that type of garbage from you again."

Louis didn't even fight the chastised cringe this time. His inner omega howled at him for upsetting the alphas. Liam set a calming hand between his shoulder blades. Louis battled not to melt into a pliant puddle of goo. 

"It smells like blood," Bobby said suddenly. "I was so angry I didn't notice before."

Louis held up his hand. "Slammed it in the door earlier," he dismissed. 

Bobby frowned. As an older alpha, he was no doubt aware that nail removal was a fairly common form of self harm in long repressed omegas. Louis wished he had thought of that before he did it. 

"Wait," Bobby said slowly, jumping tracks a little as his jumbled thoughts tried to straighten themselves out. "Marking almost definitely mean you're sleeping with my Niall. What about your girlfriends?"

Louis almost laughed. "My beards, you mean? I've never been on a date that wasn't fake."

Everyone else's jaws dropped. 

"But...but," Zayn stuttered. "What about before the x-factor?"

"I was the youngest," Louis shrugged. "My family was....reluctant to let me date. When your family includes four overage alphas, you tend to do what the family wants, voluntarily or not." Not to mention they all thought he was going to be an omega, but he didn't think it would be a good idea to call attention to that right now. 

"And I was given beards by management, so Niall and I could never officially go out," he added. "We've snuck away a few times, but that was just lunch or a bit of shopping. Not really anything you could call a date rather than just two lads hanging out. Sometimes we do the whole Netflix and chill thing when we're on break."

"And the baby?" Liam asked. 

Louis couldn't help it this time and burst into nearly hysterical laughter. "As real as Harry's relationship with Taylor Swift," he giggled. As an omega, it would be difficult to impossible for him to impregnate anyone. His body was made for being on the other end of that equation. "I'd never even met Brianna in person when she told the world she was pregnant."

Bobby's jaw dropped. "They can do that?" he questioned. "How can they do that?"

"They own us," Louis shrugged, unconcerned. Modest! had done far worse to him than that. "They dictate everything we can and can't do, from clothing to partners. I'm supposed to play out the baby thing through the break to keep us in the spotlight. So people don't forget about us."

"No," Liam said suddenly. 

"Excuse me?" Louis asked, puzzled. 

"I said no," Liam growled. "You will not _pretend_ to be the father of some random baby. I won't have it."

"Hate to tell you, buddy, but I don't think you get much choice," Louis placated. "I've already tried telling them no. Look how well that turned out." Not to mention they'd punished him for it. Severely. 

"What the hell do you mean?" Liam demanded. "They can't force us into anything. The band is so big now that all we have to do is go public with any issue we might have with management. People would be in an uproar if we weren't being treated right. Just look at how Twitter's already blown up over Niall. Well, the both of you, actually, since they don't know which of you is the omega."

Louis frowned. They didn't understand. Modest! could do anything they wanted to Louis. He could never fight back. Not only was it in his nature to do as alphas said, but these people had legal rights over him. 

"Louis, tell me you knew that," Liam said. 

Louis stayed silent. He couldn't lie to his alphas. Not without Modest! pulling the strings to make it happen. 

Liam growled angrily. "I'm sitting in on every meeting you have with them from now on. You're not to even talk to them without me, understand?"

"Yes," Louis agreed instantly even though he knew he would anyway. He just barely refrained from adding alpha onto the end. Liam was in a dominant mood, brought on by the idea that his pack had been keeping secrets from him. He was going to set them all straight and make sure nothing like this ever happened again. No matter that it wasn't their choice. 

"Have you spoken to your family?" Bobby asked suddenly. "Waiting was torture for me. Please tell me you're not putting you family through the same thing."

Louis winced. "I talked to them," he muttered, shoving his hand under his leg and pressing down on his pulsing nail beds. His mother's words had cut deep. He would probably be punishing himself every time he thought of them for quite a while.

"Ernest is coming," Liam added. “He’ll be here within the month.”

Louis almost winced again. He had no doubt his alpha brother would have orders from their mother to punish him. Ernest was twenty-three years older than Louis, and had pretty much raised his little brother. Louis had looked to him as a Primus his whole life as it was a position his aging beta mother and his absent beta father had no chance of filling. Dory, Lottie, and Fizzy might have, but they had moved a few towns away; not far enough to make them absent in his life, but too far for them to fill such a time consuming role. Ernest lived next door to their mother with his mate and their children, some of whom were older than Louis. The occasional addition of one more child was no issue to them. 

Ernest was the closest thing Louis had to a father and had dealt with him when he was naughty as a child. The older alpha knew how to handle him. And he worst of all, he knew _Louis_. Any out of character behavior would excite all kinds of suspicion in the alpha. Louis allowing Niall to be hurt was out of character. Ernest would already be on guard. Louis had _no fucking idea_ how he was going to keep him in the dark. 

Liam's phone rang, startling all of them. 

"Hello?" 

Louis heard the distinctive tones of the Primus, Bret, of their management team and couldn't control the urge to cringe away. He'd gotten some pretty nasty threats from this man, not to mention the purely sadistic punishments he was known to dish out. 

Zayn, Liam, and Bobby all scowled at this reaction. Liam's hand slid up his back and settled on his neck, squeezing reassuringly. Louis sighed in relief but didn't let his head fall submissively as he wanted to. 

"Niall's sleeping right now. Harry's with him," Liam told Bret. "The rest of us have time to talk now." 

Louis rolled his shoulders, preparing for battle. No doubt Bret would want to speak to him in person when he was done with the rest of them.

"We'll be there in five," Liam finished. 

"They want us in one of the conference rooms," he told the rest of them. "We need to discuss what to do about this as far as the media goes, and obviously we can't finish the tour. Niall's health will be fragile enough without constant movement."

Bobby nodded approvingly. "I'll go back to Harry and Niall," he told them. "I want to spend some time with my boy."

"We'll be in conference room B if you need us," Liam informed him. He urged Louis to his feet, still holding the back of his neck. For a beta, this would be a punishment; a sign that the alpha didn't trust you not to run off. For omegas it was comforting. Louis was torn on how to react. He found himself following Modest! Command to conceal himself and tried to pull away. Liam tightened his grip, and plain sign that he wasn't letting Louis go so he'd better get used to it.Louis didn’t have it in him to try again. 

Louis sighed as he was forced to walk with the alpha towards what promised to be a very unpleasant conversation. This was one hell of a long day. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...I'm still alive? I'm so sorry guys. My computer broke, and then I had a family crisis that took up most of the Summer. My schedule is so hectic right now, but I'm still trying to write! 
> 
> I really wanted to thank everyone for all the nice comments I got last time. Many of you actually reminded me to take care of myself first, and I was extremely touched. I was more expecting people to be annoyed about long gaps than supporting of me. It really means a lot that you were all so caring and understanding. Hopefully I won't have this kind of several month hiatus again. 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed!


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Niall and the alphas start to settle in. Louis doesn't.

Louis wasn't wrong. The talk with Bret was awful. And long. And confusing. Liam wasn't letting anyone have anything without his say. Louis wasn't even aware that they could _talk_ to management like that, let alone that they could win an _arguement_ like that. 

Granted management put up a good fight. They spent the entire day arguing back and forth. But in the end, Liam got his way on almost every single important point. The only think he wasn't completely successful with was convincing them to cancel the rest of their tour. Liam _refused_ to finish their schedule when doing so could endanger Niall's health, but management wasn't  going to willingly lose that much money. 

In the end, Liam had to pull the omega abuse card. Since it could hurt Niall, it was technically true that it would be omega abuse for management to force them to finish their tour. People would pick up on that, even if Liam didn't go public with it. Everyone knew what suppressants did to omegas. Besides, their touring schedule in and of itself would be considered omega abuse as it was really too strenuous for the more fragile gender. 

Even pointing out all of this, Liam only ended up with a compromise. They were allowed to postpone everything for a week. If any more serious symptoms popped up, it would be pushed back even further or completely canceled depending on the severity of the situation. It was far from an ideal situation, but it put power back in Liam's hands as Primus. Any little thing would give him the leeway to veto everything if he wanted to. 

It was passed five by the time they hashed everything out, and Louis was starting to feel a little faint. He hadn't eaten since before they left the bus yesterday evening, and his body wasn't built for going long periods without food. Especially not since he'd slimmed down so much. A little extra cushion was much more healthy for omegas as compared to an alpha's solid wall of muscles. Louis was thinner than was really good for him and couldn't afford to miss so many meals in a row. 

"I think that's all," Bret finally concluded. "Unless you've got anything more?" he added a little challengingly. 

"No," Liam denied, not rising to the bait. "We've covered everything I can think of."

"Good," Bret said. "Then I'll let you go get dinner. We all missed lunch for this. I just need a quick word with Louis and then I'll be on my way as well."

Louis went stiff as a board. That was _not_ good news. The alpha would undoubtably administer some kind of punishment and threaten him. He didn't know if he could deal with that right now. 

"No," Liam said calmly, but with an edge of irritation. "My pack doesn't go anywhere alone right now. You won't see him without Zayn, Harry, or I. If you have anything to say to him, it will be in front of us and not right now. It's been a very, _very_ long day, and Louis is only a beta. He's not built for this kind of stress like alphas are. He needs food and his bed. You can talk to him tomorrow, if it's urgent."

Bret stiffened at that, not used to being denied when it came to Louis. He was more than accustom to having a pliant omega in his hands without input from a headstrong and confident alpha. 

"Very well," he sniffed. "I suppose it can wait."

Louis relaxed, even though he knew Bret wouldn't leave it at that. He would seek out Louis later, when he was alone.

Liam nodded in acknowledgement, then stood and strode out of the room. Louis and Zayn trailed after him as he made his way back up to Niall and Harry. 

Niall was giggling at his father from his comfortable seat on Harry's lap when they entered the room. Louis smiled, glad that the other omega was so happy. He'd felt that through their bond earlier, but it was so different to see it. He hadn't seen Niall this open and free since before he presented. 

"Louis!" the blond yelled upon catching sight of him. He jumped off of Harry and sprinted over to Louis. Niall threw himself at the smaller omega, and both of them would have gone toppling over if it wasn't for Liam steadying him from behind. Louis was too exhausted for Niall's exuberance right now. 

"Hello, boo," he greeted softly. 

Niall placed his hands on Louis's cheeks and sealed his lips over Louis's instead of answering. He was exceptionally gentle, knowing very well how fragile Louis was at the moment, but still quite dominant. He inserted his tongue in Louis's mouth and filled his senses with his own taste, smell, and touch. 

Louis relaxed into it. He couldn't help it, despite their audience. Niall was so familiar and calming. It was what Louis needed right now. 

Eventually he pulled away and rested his head on Niall's shoulder, face concealed and unguarded. One of Niall's arms went around his waist, and the other hand rested on the back of his head. 

"Ok, pet?" Niall questioned. 

"Course," Louis replied, pulling his head up and dredging up a grin. He pecked the blond lightly on the nose and drew away. 

"Good boy," Niall praised quietly. He ran a found hand through Louis's hair, then was pulled under Liam's arm. 

Louis tried not to get jealous just looking. It was more difficult than he'd like to admit. He wrapped his arms around himself in a pathetic attempt at self-comfort. Everyone else was too involved with Niall to notice. He had the feeling that was something he was going to have to get used to.

*****

The first night without Niall was hard. It wasn't that they always slept together, but before there was always the _option_ of seeking out the blond if Louis needed him. Having that so suddenly torn away was a lot harder to deal with than one might expect. Louis ended up crying himself to sleep with a stomach still aching from the mixture of suppressants and scent blockers that he'd ingested, barely able to keep down the bowl of soup he'd mostly played with at dinner time. 

He was woken up very early the next day by Bret pounding on his door. Louis had no choice but to let the Primus in, never mind the fact that Liam had told him not to. Alpha Commands might not work over the phone, but they _were_ completely effective through walls. The rough, deep timber of Bret's voice Commanding him to open the door was the first thing he heard that morning. 

The alpha barged passed Louis as soon as he was allowed entrance and yanked the omega back by his collar almost before Louis could close the door. 

Louis found himself slammed into the wall with Bret crowding into his face and snarling. His legs went utterly boneless with the urge to kneel and whimper for the furious alpha to forgive him, but Bret held him up by his pajama shirt. 

"How _dare_ you!?" Bret seethed. "Only _one_ thing we asked of you, and you couldn't even manage that!"

Louis shook, unable to formulate a coherent enough thought to respond through his fear. 

Bret pulled him away from the wall only to slam him back into it again. A high pitched whimper tore unwilling from his throat. 

" _Shut up!_ " Bret snarled, emphasizing each word with a shake. 

Louis cringed and fought the instinct to whine. 

"Do you have any idea how much work you've made for us?" Bret continued. "How much money you've cost us? How many cover stories we've been forced to construct in the last twenty-four hours?"

"'m sorry!" Louis beseeched, taking the questions as permission to speak. "I didn't mean-"

"I told you to _shut up_!" Bret rebuked sharply. 

Another whine unconsciously escaped Louis. 

Bret snorted in disgust and dropped him. Louis fell hard, hitting the ground with a bruising thump. 

"So much trouble," Bret observed, shaking his head. "All because you were so _careless_." He toed at Louis with a sneer, but the omega didn't dare look at him. He fixed his gazed submissively on the ground instead. 

Bret snort again. 

"Get up," he demanded. "We need to talk about what's going to be expected of you from now on."

The following discussion of strategies and covers ran straight through breakfast, and continued until another knock sounded on Louis's door. 

Bret went immediately silent as Harry's voice drifted through the wood. 

"Louis?" the alpha called. "Are you decent?"

"Get rid of him," Bret hissed, ducking into the bathroom and closing the door. Much as it may hurt the alpha's pride, he knew Liam would be very unhappy if he learned Bret had approached Louis alone. He _had_ expressly forbade it, after all.

"Coming," Louis called, tugging at his shirt until it covered all of his bruises and then opening the door. 

"Were you still sleeping?" Harry questioned, taking in his appearance. "It's almost noon."

"Didn't sleep well last night," Louis muttered, leaning against the doorframe because he knew he couldn't let Harry in the room. The alpha would definitely smell Bret if he came in. 

Harry's gaze softened a little. As Louis was the more submissive partner, it was no surprise that he'd had difficulty sleeping when his access to his significant other was removed. That was pretty much basic submissive behavior 101. 

"I know, babe," he soothed. "It shouldn't be too long that this keeps up."

Louis shrugged noncommittally. He didn't really want to talk about it. 

"We're all having lunch together in about an hour," Harry continued when it became obvious Louis wasn't going to answer. "If you're not in the restaurant downstairs in thirty minutes, one of us will come up and drag you down."

"Fine," Louis agreed apathetically. "I'll be there. Just have to get dressed."

"You want me to stay with you while you get ready?" Harry offered, a look of concern on his expressive features. Indifferent was by no means Louis's default setting. To see him this way would concern the alpha. 

"I think I can manage by myself," Louis assured him dryly. "Besides, I don't think Niall would be very happy if I stripped for you," he added with a little of his trademark sass. "Possessive, remember?"

Harry chuckled. "K. I'll see you down there then."

Louis nodded and beat a hasty retreat before Harry could change his mind.

Bret emerged from the bathroom as he was closing the door. 

"Don't screw this up any more than you already have, Louis," he warned. "And don't think this is going to do you any favors. You're going to have to make up for what you've cost us."

Louis nodded languidly, unable to muster up much of a reaction. This was far from the first time Bret had assured him of this fact. 

*****

He'd put in an appearance at lunch, dosed up on his suppressants. Niall was sitting on Zayn's lap this time, and he again bounced over to welcome Louis. He looked well rested. Louis was simultaneously jealous and extremely relieved. Niall deserved to feel good. It was high time he had someone to take care of him after so long. Louis just kind of wished he could have that too. 

The meal passed in a little bit of a blur. Liam outlined all sorts of plans for drawing the pack closer together and dealing with the media backlash that was sure to follow. Louis listened with half an ear, already knowing things weren't going to go exactly as Liam wanted them. Some of Bret's plans clashed drastically with Liam's. 

Niall insisted that Louis sit next to him and Zayn and the blond kept a pretty close eye on him the whole meal. Louis knew Niall was taking in the sweater he wore, which was usually only allowed when someone had bruised him. 

His image had been carefully planned by management to try to make him look, well, less omega, honestly. The style he'd had at the beginning was much more typical of omegas, and Modest! had Commanded him to move away from it for that reason. They'd tried to make him out at the bad boy type with limited success. Louis thought that even with their best efforts he mostly came off as a little rebellious and naughty. He didn't think anyone really bought into his facade completely. 

It wasn't that he hated the style they'd picked for him. He looked good in it, and it made him feel...naughty and maybe a little sexy. That was great when he was feeling mischievous, but not so good for those days when he just felt _soft_. The only time he was allowed to look so omega now-a-days was when he had visible marks on his skin to cover. 

Niall knew that, and it sparked his concern to see Louis drowning in his sweater. There wasn't much he could do about it, surrounded with alphas as they were. Louis didn't expect that would change anytime soon either, so he simply sent the blond a reassuring smile and pretended to be fine. It was a role he was good at playing. 

*****

For the first week after Niall had been outed, life wasn't too awful. Louis was expected to stay with his pack in their time of need, and even management wouldn't mess with that. 

Thankfully, Niall's withdrawal from the suppressants went more smoothly than any of them had dared to hope for. They'd had a few scary moments recently. Niall had gotten a migraine bad enough that he passed out in the middle of the restaurant the first time he tried to go in while it was full. The influx of scents had been too much for his newly sensitive nose and Liam barely caught him before he hit the ground. His body had gone into full revolt after about a day, and he'd spent the whole day puking and shuddering with a high fever as his body tried to purge the drugs. 

He also been caught in the middle of punishing himself several times, which had scared the alphas quite badly. It wasn't something they could order him to stop completely, because it was such a basic instinct. 

They could Command him to stop if they caught him in the middle of it, but a blanket Command to stop punishing himself entirely wouldn't hold. It would hurt his mental state, so like other Commands that would directly harm an omega, it wasn't effective. An alpha couldn't, for example, Command an omega to commit suicide or hurt their child. Those were instincts engrained in them since the beginning of the human race. 

Drug use, in some case, was exempt from this feature. An alpha couldn't directly Command an omega to eat a poisonous berry, for example. But drugs that were more subtly damaging like heroine or suppressants did not receive the same protection. This was because in small amounts, these things were generally not meant to be harmful or fatal. Even Heroine had been developed as a painkiller, after all. Suppressants could be safely used to control heat cycles if it was absolutely necessary. It was misuse that made them dangerous, and the primal instincts that drove inner omegas couldn't recognize that. Unfortunately, this meant omegas like Louis and Niall could be Commanded to take them. 

Despite these few mishaps, Niall came off of said drugs quite easily. Not perfectly, but no one did after being on them for as long as he had. The small incidents they'd had were minor and abated quickly. By the end of the week, he was beginning to look much better. He'd gained the slightest bit of weight, which he'd needed, and looked well rested for the first time in years. Management had demanded they go back on the circuit, and even Liam had reluctantly agreed. 

Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said of Louis. For every ounce that Niall gained, Louis seemed to loose one, and the bags under his eyes deepened to more closely resemble bruises than mere exhaustion. 

His level of self-control had also drastically decreased. He'd grown very used to having Niall there to take away at least a little of the responsibility for making sure he didn't hurt himself too badly. Without the other omega, it was harder to restrain himself from giving in to his instincts. Not that this was something the alphas would notice. 

Niall did. Every time Louis hurt himself, Niall knew immediately because of their bond, and he always set out to find Louis, spurning any attempt of the alphas to question or restrain him. It wasn't that the alphas wanted to keep Niall from Louis, at least not when one of them was there to observe, they just didn't particularly appreciate it when the blond randomly sprinted off to find Louis for no obvious reason. Louis honestly couldn't blame them. Niall refused to let the alphas put even a temporary mark on him without Louis, so they had no way of tracking him when he sudden took off. 

It had sparked many arguments already, and Louis expected that Liam would put his foot down before he let them go back on tour. They couldn't have their omega wandering around strange places without any idea where he was or if he was ok. The only alternative would be having an alpha with Niall at all times, and the blond definitely wouldn't stand for that. Not to mention how impractical it was. 

This posed another issue, however, because no one was quite sure how that would interact with Niall and Louis's bond. The blond was still marking Louis regularly, as gently as possible now that Louis was getting so frail, but still biting hard enough to leave an imprint of his teeth on the shorter boy. 

Honestly, a bond with Niall should tip the alphas off that there was something strange about the omegas' bond. At least for an omega/beta bond. Omega/beta bonds functioned slightly differently than omega/omega ones. The echoing of emotions didn't happen in O/B bonds, like it did with O/O ones. Betas weren't as emotionally sensitive in most cases and weren't as receptive to the emotions of omegas. They could definitely still feel it, it just didn't create a circuit like it did between omegas.

If the alphas bonded Niall, they should be able to feel Niall and Louis's bond. It was rare for alphas to bond an omega who was already bonded without bonding the person the omega was bonded to, and the ability of the alpha to perceive the bond between the omega and the other was different in each case. It wasn't a well studied area and little was actually known especially because it did differ so much on a case to case basis. 

A lot of it depended on how close the alphas were to the person the omega was bonded to. If they were extremely close, like their alphas were to Louis, they were able to get almost an echo of the other from the omega. In other words, the alphas _should_ be able to get a bit of Louis from Niall. Louis real secondary gender should be clear as crystal from even that small taste. 

But Louis's Command from Modest! insisted that he couldn't let that happen. That meant he would have to get Niall to stop marking him, or figure out a way to block of the bond from the alphas. He was in no way prepared to cut Niall out. He'd grown very, very used to having the blond in the back of his head and was a little afraid of how unstable he would become without it. 

So that meant he would have to block the alphas. Technically this wouldn't be too hard. The echo would have been so weak anyway that it would take little effort on his part to keep it from reaching the alphas. Relationship wise, it would be devastating. It would be a huge insult to the alphas and insinuate a lack of trust. Louis didn't want to hurt them like that, but he didn't see a lot of other options in this case. 

It would drive a wedge between them. Modest! was counting on this. They needed Louis stunting like never before to dispel any lingering doubts about his status. He had to be the most stereotypically beta to ever beta if he wanted to get away with this. Just thinking about it was enough to make his stomach roil with anxiety. 

But he really didn't have time to worry about it. Their week of rest was up, and the first thing on their schedule was an interview to reveal Niall's gender and clear up any "misconceptions" involved. Which basically meant Louis was sitting in a chair getting a shit ton of make-up slathered all over his face to cover his pallid and exhausted skin-tone and preparing to lie out of his ass about every single thing he was about to asked. 

He sighed. 

Louise looked caught between concern and disapproval. She had made her opinions about Louis keeping Niall's secret very clear, and it was not a favorable one. Louis could see that she was struggling between being furiously distant and legitimately worried about him.

She didn't get the chance to make up her mind, because Liam stuck his head in the room just then. 

"You ready?" he questioned. "We're on in five."

Louis nodded, and the alpha ducked back out again. He took one last deep breath, and glanced back in the mirror. He pasted the picture perfect media grin on his face and followed the alpha out. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I am once again not dead. I don't know guys. This isn't my usual fandom, and it's kind of hard for me to get inspiration when I'm not really involved in the fandom at the time. I'm not going to promise when the next update will be. There will be more, though! At some point. It just might take awhile. Hopefully sometime over the Summer, because I don't foresee it being anything like last Summer. I should have more time and be a lot more settled, so hopefully that should encourage me. Plus I've had a huge outpouring of writing lately, just not in this fandom. I want to try to keep the pace up, and I'll be posting soon in other fandoms. Hopefully that will spill over into this fandom again soon. 
> 
> On another note, thank you again for all your amazing comments and support. The people in this fandom are so lovely that it makes it worth writing even when I don't really feel like it. I hope you're all doing well and your summer is full of life and joy.

**Author's Note:**

> So I've never worked in a bandom before, and I'm a little nervous. Like I said, testing the waters. Thoughts?


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